Mom, Wait for Meeee!!!

[Gabriela Plesea]

I guess no words needed...or maybe just a few...

We lose a rhino just about every week around here, sometimes two.

Image taken at very high ISO and therefore some noise, decided to enhance it rather than doing a noise reduction - just loved the effect achieved.

Although a fun image, I hope to bring more awareness of the dire situation regarding our rhino in South Africa.

Love this little chap trotting happily behind his mom, he is not aware of the fate that awaits him.

I hope you enjoyed viewing, thank you so much for taking the time.

Kind regards,

[Hazel Grant]

you made the right decision re noise. this gives a wonderful effect. the crop makes it, too. Well done. Sad story to convey, though.

[Christopher Miller]

Cute photo, Gabriela! Some noise often looks good in a sepia-toned photo like this. It is sad how much the rhino populations continue to decline.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much Hazel and Christopher,

Christopher, I would appreciate any advice from you regarding this image, if you have any ideas on how to bring out more textures and deal with the noise in a more constructive way, kindly let me know. I printed this today on paper just for myself, surprisingly it looked much better than on screen. It might not look too bad on canvas and I am really fond of this little rhino. The frame was taken at ISO 12800, by the way.

Kind regards,

[Marina Scarr]

Terrific image. Absolutely love the story here. You can post an image like this in IOTB and get a lot of really great feedback.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much Marina, will post a similar one in OOTB very soon, I really appreciate your advice and just taking the time to view:)

Warmest regards,

[Diane Miller]

Wonderful shot!! The little one is SO cute! And an amazing shot for that ISO.

I often use Nik Dfine for noise, sometimes two rounds. And Nik CEP's Detail Extractor will bring out detail, but also increases noise. I always try to maximize detail, and often do some NR, in raw conversion first. ACR/LR has some good tools, but noise works against detail and you can't pull out what wasn't in the capture, you can only find the sweet spot or best balance between them.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much Diane, I have not used NIK in some time but will give it a try.

He is indeed cute, this little one...glad you too like him:)

Hope you have a lovely evening, will be back here with some more images soon!

Kind regards,

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

It really saddens me to know how much destruction humans carry out to our natural heritage around the globe. Rhinos, elephants and many other species, some not as large and publicised either.
Hope things change in the future.

Not quite on topic here, but I thought I'd mention about palm oil and deforestation of SE Asian jungles for the sake of planting more palm oil plantations to fuel the global thirst for the product.
In Australia we have an app available (sadly to this point, not a large volume of citizens use it, but that hopefully changes), which tells us (by scanning the product barcode) whether the product has been
made from uncertified palm oil (irresponsible source) or certified (meaning it's sourced responsibly). So we as consumers have a choice. My wife and I religiously use it and often get strange looks at the shop, but who cares?
Everyone can make a difference, even if little.

While it means nothing to the little rhino, using apps like this palm oil barcode scanner can help orangutans. Thought I'd mention it.
The FB page for this app is here: https://www.facebook.com/palmoilprod...tralia?fref=ts

Maybe you have a palm oil app available for your country.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much Akos for the info. Do not get discouraged, YOU are making a difference.

Sadly, I think no such app is available here. In SA we have many issues regarding wildlife that need be resolved, unfortunately those people who have the power to do so do not care that much.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Friends,

I have sad news - this mother rhino was recently shot by poachers and her horn removed, fortunately she survived but she is badly wounded, baby was not harmed as the horn was too small (baby only 6 months old).

Will follow up on their progress when I am back from Kruger Park, end of September. They are now being taken care of by local veterinarians.

Kind regards,

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Oh NOOO! That is disgraceful.
I don't know how poaching will ever be stopped.
Bloody ****!