Late afternoon young tusker

[Thinus Schoeman]

We visited the Timbavati Game Reserve on the Kruger National Park's western border a few weeks ago, and encountered this young bull elephant making his way in the mostly dry riverbed to a small pool that has not dried up yet. Early summer before the rains come, these last remaining pools are usually good bets to find elephants in the late afternoon, and we found what we were hoping for on this particular afternoon.

The image is almost full frame, with a little crop from the left and top.

I would have liked to have used f7.1 or f8, but I didn't want to go higher than ISO800 with the 70D, and the elephant was too far for my FF Canon 6D with the 70-200 2.8 MKII with the 1.4 Converter. As the 400 5.6 doesn't have IS, I always tend to go for higher shutter speeds to ensure a sharp image.

Camera Model Canon EOS 70D
Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE
Tv(Shutter Speed) 1/1600
Av(Aperture Value) 5.6
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation 0
ISO Speed 800
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens EF400mm f/5.6L USM
Focal Length 400.0mm
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode AI Servo AF

Editing was done in LR5:
I used the masking tool to selectively sharpen the elephant, and increased the contrast, clarity and vibrance and saturation by small numbers.
I did a bit of noise reduction on the rest of the image by using the masking tool. I also used the adjustment brush to reduce the clarity and the sharpness on the background.
I used the adjustment brush on the elephant to selectively increase the contrast by about 40, and the clarity and vibrance by 14 each.
Sharpness increased by 22.
No colors were adjusted at all.

Thanks for looking, and all C&C's are welcome.

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Tinus

Love the moment captured, the warmth and the angle.

The young man is becoming an adult with the first signs of must.

Love the comp and DOF.

Would tone down the greens on ellie and tone down reds/yellows in BG, in my opinion, to put more emphasis on elephant.

Andre

[Morkel Erasmus]

Love the angle, stride, light and sharpness here Thinus. One of your best wildlife images posted here to date
I agree with Andre's assessment of the colour corrections needed.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Thinus - I love the Timbavati. Nice comp, walking pose and light. Good suggestions by Andre regarding the color. The other thing I would do if it were mine is to tone down/burn the two brighter branches that look as if they are coming out of the ele's back/rear.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Thinus, I like the composition and a bit of fun you have managed to capture within the elephant. Techs look good and solid, good call on choice of kit too and I'm please to see you used only a hint of NR, it so over used and the image looks better for it IMHO. The image is clipped in the Black/Shadow areas, always keep an eye on those warning triangles in the Histogram of LR. It probably has happened during some simple adjustments, but easily fixed. You also need to pull back the blue, look at the rocks on the LHS.

Not sure about how you sharpened if you have just used LR and one slider as the parameters need to be set for both Input & Export, perhaps drop me a PM.

Looks like things are falling into place nicely with your photography, keep at it and posting, you will be amazed how quickly you will progress.

TFS
Steve

[Thinus Schoeman]

Hi Andre

Thanks for looking and for the positive feedback give. One thing I'm battling with in terms of processing is to develop a trained eye to spot the colour casts many here are so good at.
I also have some work to do to improve my workflow as well as my PS skills. LR I feel fairly comfortable with, but LR is not enough to process wildlife images in most cases.

Thanks again, I'll have a look at the colour casts and try to tone it down in PS.

Regards
Thinus

[Thinus Schoeman]

Hi Morkel, the positive feedback means a lot to me and thanks a lot, but I do know I have lots to improve on, especially with my post processing work and workflow. I intend to post at least one image a week from now on in order to improve my PP work.

Thanks again!
Thinus

[Thinus Schoeman]

Hi Rachel, I am fortunate to visit Timbavati every year, and I'll be there again over New Year. It will be after I spent a week in the Kruger, so naturally I am quite excited about December!
I must admit I sort of missed the bright branches at the back, but now that you mentioned it and I had a re-look, they really bother me. I 'll see what I can do about that. It is another lesson to have a real careful look at the whole image before posting.

Thanks for the positive feedback and for looking!

Thinus

[Thinus Schoeman]

Hi Thinus, I like the composition and a bit of fun you have managed to capture within the elephant. Techs look good and solid, good call on choice of kit too and I'm please to see you used only a hint of NR, it so over used and the image looks better for it IMHO. The image is clipped in the Black/Shadow areas, always keep an eye on those warning triangles in the Histogram of LR. It probably has happened during some simple adjustments, but easily fixed. You also need to pull back the blue, look at the rocks on the LHS.

Not sure about how you sharpened if you have just used LR and one slider as the parameters need to be set for both Input & Export, perhaps drop me a PM.

Looks like things are falling into place nicely with your photography, keep at it and posting, you will be amazed how quickly you will progress.

TFS
Steve

Hi Steve, your positive comments are really appreciated. I do take note of your suggestions as they are good and valid. I'll have to re-visit this image and try to implement the suggestions.

With regards to my sharpening workflow, I'll definitely drop you a line soon, as I am sure the process I follow can be improved.

Thanks again!
Thinus

[Carl Walker]

Super image Thinus. You have handled the light and shadows quite well. All other mentioned. TFS

[Douglas Bolt]

A very enjoyable image, Thinus. Well done. The low angle is very nice. Well done.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Thinus very nice image with lovely sweet light and overall colors , i am with Steve regarding the blacks does look choked up .

TFS Andreas