Portrait of a snow and ice covered bull bison; veteran survivor of countless brutal Yellowstone winters. Canon 5D III, 500mm f/4 IS + 1.4x, ISO 1250, 1/250 second @ f/5.6. Photographed December 29, 2015.
Hi Steve.
Cool portrait here! Love seeing these guys covered in snow.
I wonder about the DOF - it seems the eyes are just a tad softer than the nose? Might be because of the coarse texture of the snout with snow as well.
I'd selectively sharpen the eyes just a hint more for this presentation, regardless on whether all is in focus on the high resolution file.
There's a bit of a hint of too much blue in the overall whites of the snow - perhaps a slight warming filter or selective desaturation of the blue channel can sort that out...
Good to see you posting here, please keep them coming and don't forget to chime in with your thoughts on the images that others are posting!
Hi Steve, great portrait and you can sense the cold temperatures within the capture.
The DoF I agree needed to be more, nose to eyes have to be sharp and with the 5DMKIII cranking up that ISO would not be a problem, as you could have easily gone to 3200 or even 6400 to gain both DoF & SS, 250 SS is just too slow. I could be wrong, but there does appear to be a little noise creeping in, did you open the image up in the darks, i.e. shadow areas?
Regarding the Blue I'm not sure here, normally I would like it out, but it may then lessen the overall look & feel perhaps? here is an option with the Blue reduced and the WB to a 50/50/50 (where you take it is personal choice) then there was still room to manoeuvre on the whites and a Tonal Curve and a bit more USM. Applying a filter to darken around the head I think gives also a bit more prominence to the face.
Quickly done on the latop, not ideal, but I hope this illustrates the thoughts, look forward to seeing more.
Hi Steve -- That is some creature ! lovely eye contact as well , i think the DOF should have been around f8 atleast , you had could have easily increased the iso to support your stopping down , yes and i agree with Morkel on the bluish-ness in the whites . But overall very nicely done .
I like what you've done and definitely see the difference; I do prefer it with less blue and slightly darker more contrasty countenance. Thanks for all of the tips and encouragement. I really do need to push the ISO values.....
Last edited by steve torna; 02-08-2016 at 07:37 AM.
Impressive close tip portrait Steve, I like the head on stare.
Steve's RP improves things a bit more, albeit maybe a touch too warm now on the WB as I think a very small amount of blue in the snow conveys the coldness on the scene
Steve, you need to just push things just to see what happens, it won't break the camera, these days they are built for it, but Exposure is key to ensure you don't have the need to open/lift any Darks or Shadows, this is where the noise will be. Slow SS will mean a poor/soft image, it may look sharp here, but it's the RAW that counts.
Finally, use the word contrast to describe things, but I would be very careful in actually using it, remember introducing any form of blacks it not always a good idea for obvious reasons, but also subject to the image.
What a great shot I really like the close up view and the snow encrusted fur and eyelashes, I have tried not to look at previous comments but I am pretty sure colour balance or a blue cast was mentioned, here is my take on it. I made a new Levels layer and using the colour sampler tool I equalised the RGB values in the highlights darks and mid tones.
Hi Steve great head on view of this impressive bison bull , love the overall look& feel of this frame .
Technical "issues" mentioned above ... in which i agree .
"FEARLESS"
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Originally Posted by David Cowling
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