Hello Everyone ! Thanks for visiting this thread, i was really very busy with the financial year ending here in India but somehow i managed time to view all the wonderful images posted over that period and had wished to post in the free time,finally hectic schedule is the thing of past and hope to post more on this forum . I am looking forward for all your suggestions. Thank you once again.
Specie: Golden Jackal ( Canis aureus )
Location: Sillari,India.
Due to excessive rains last year, the backwaters of Sillari (Pench Maharshtra ) were having plenty of water even in the month of May. The levels near the banks were high enough for an elephant to sink. As we were scanning the area for the river lapwings, a splashing sound in the waters caught our attention. What we saw was astonishing ! A jackal was jumping and pouncing in deep waters as it was trying to catch something. Suddenly its jawline appeared much bigger than usual and on close observation we found out that the jackal has caught a big fish. I actually don't know what happened in the waters but it appeared that the jackal hunted down the fish. I still believe that it might have taken this risk of getting in deep waters which also consist of crocs because it had 5 pups to feed along with its companion. Never the less it was a sight to behold and this image will always remind me that epic moment in the years to come.
Technical Information : Tv:1/2000 sec; Av: f/8; ISO 1000, Evaluative Metering,
Body : Canon 1D MK IV, Canon 300 mm f2.8 IS II with 2 x T.C.Bean Bag
Post Processing: minute cropping, Layers: hue/saturation,sharpening,levels,shadow/highlights,noise reduction,dodge tool,selective color.
Hi Haseeb - Sounds like a great sighting. That certainly is a mouthful and I like the alert, trotting pose as well. The comp works well. Something looks amiss in the pp like it was perhaps heavily recovered. Did you apply NR selectively or to the whole image? Let's see what others say but it just doesn't look right to me. Maybe post the straight out of camera. Sorry, but it just looks off to me.
Hi Rachel ! Thanks for the review , I applied the noise reduction to the whole frame except the jackal and the dead fish ! Will post the straight out of the camera version tonight (IST )
Hi Haseeb, I love the scene as well and you did very well here. Like Rachel, I thought something could be done better with the pp, but since we don't know the original, out of camera frame, we would be guessing. How much of a crop? the Blue water looks a bit too saturated to me, but I'm on a lap top, so forgive me if I speak out of line. I think there is over sharpening on the jackal, possibly because of the wet fur, easy to fix. TFS. Loi
Hi Haseeb, I like the overall capture, a hint of FG, the subject sandwiched in the middle and a contrasting backdrop, helps isolate the subject, certainly a sizeable prize for such an animal too. I also like the fact the subject is just in the shallows of the river. Techs look good to me, great you kept the SS up high, my only question is the 2x MKII or MKIII? BTW how did you get on with Exposure and the Histogram?
The overall colour looks 'muddy' and the image lacks a nice vibrancy, as the day looked bright. There are a few hotspots on the fish from the light and so you can possible reduce those back in the RAW file. However, if you take the image as posted and using both Colour balance & Selective colour you can address the image to a certain degree as here, not the ideal tool, the correct way is back to the RAW. I also added a Channel layer to try and bring back some more detail depth in the fish, I also added in part, a slight increase in brightness. You can also hone the coat of the Mother more, i.e. more red, yellow, or black within the the Red/Yellow sliders of Selective Colour, but not knowing the species I tried to keep a more 'neutral' look, right or wrong.
As I said, this isn't ideal and I'm always reluctant to do a RP, but I think as there is a marked difference, similar to Ritesh's Tiger image, it's worth doing.
Hello !! Thank you Rachel,Loi,Steve and Anette ! I am posting the untouched Jpeg version here please provide your RP's and if possible pls also give a comparative so that i correct myself and produce better results when next time in field !!!
Hi Haseeb, if you can, provide a link or fwd the RAW via Dropbox/Google that would be better. Ritesh knows how to upload via Google so I would suggest if you need to, drop him a line.
Hi Haseeb, I have got the link thank you, I think the others should also 'reach out', as you can then get more of an overview. Once done we should then post as close together as possible, hopefully there will be an overlap of processes, but I would suggest things are kept to a simple path of Workflow. Based on what I have seen, the RAW is very good and sharp, therefore it doesn't require a Degree in Harry Potter's school of PP magic.
Couple of questions:
- What do you use to convert the RAW file, DPP, LR, ACR, capture One...?
- From recollection were the conditions sunny, overcast, bright sun...?
OK, if you use DPP then as I said to Ritesh, your best bet is to buy Arash's DPP PDF. I have not seen or read it, but it will probably give you the best start/platform. Any thoughts I have, or suggest will be via LR & PS. If you haven't, then I would strongly suggest you purchase PS via Adobe CC. Like LR there is only a certain amount you can do within DPP, PS will give you those extra finishing touches.
OK, Layers & Masks are at first daunting, but simple once you understand the principal and remember to have the mask 'activated' . A Layer mask filled white, is 'to conceal', a Layer mask filled black, is 'to reveal'.
Great sighting and moment Haseeb!
I agree the OP looks off regarding fine detail. I actually prefer the sharpness/detail definition of your "out of camera" version.
Are you progressing with layers now? There are some nice tutorials for free out on the web as well, will have to search for some if you want links (don't have them off-the-cuff with me).
Haseeb - Thanks for the RAW file. I converted in ACR. WB 4500, tint +14, contrast -10, highlights -20, shadows +14, whites -30, blacks +5, clarity +10, vibrance +8, saturation +4. In PS I did levels and curves layers, burned the fish slightly, cropped to move the jackal off center a bit and then resized, sharpened and converted to sRGB. Having not been there and not being familiar with this jackal, I could be way off but this was more pleasing to my personal taste. WDYT? I did not do any clean up of the water or beach but if your personal ethics allows, you certainly can.
LR WB 6550 (purely to get a balance across RGB channels), tint +2, contrast -10, highlights -0, shadows -8, whites +8, blacks -13, clarity 0, vibrance 0, saturation +2. Adjustment brush for fish, a couple of stones removed. Slight adjustments in HSL panel, Export to PS CC2014'
PS - Levels, Curves layers for Highlights, Shadows & Darks where applicable. Cooled back the Temp, as discussed, cropped Export as sRGB, sharpening minimal as this is personal choice again. Personally I think this still could go a fraction warmer, but...
I think you now have a good platform to see and explore (and illustrates how we ALL see things too, all very subjective, but you have the advantage of being there and so, warmth, saturation, colour of the water etc, is very subjective and can be finely tuned if required), plus you know hopefully have a better understanding on layers & masks too.
Looking forward to the next image hopefully incorporating what you have gleaned from all of this.
You have some amazing opportunities, so glad to see you are taking advantage of them - this is well captured and I will be following with much interest your progress in terms of PP work:) You got the best advice here regarding processing, love the RP's and as always something for me to learn along the way so I thank the Moderators for their input and information
Not much left for me to add other than "well done" - a bit of a cliché but in this case I truly mean it, love your enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge and I can see improvement with each and every one of your posts
Thank you all the moderators !!! Recalling the actual scene , the fish in Rachel's version perfectly matches its colors , and the color of Jackal looks similar to Steves version , color of water looks good to me in both versions ( of Rachel and Steve ) . Very Thankful to you for all the help and knowledge sharing . Eager to post more after this post and looking to improve on the lines you people work.