a Frozen Moment

[Andre Pretorius]

Moment captured in difficult circumstances forced onto us by fellow humans in Kruger National Park.

We love the animals and the nature there, but we decided not to go back...

Difficult to get exposure right- one has the white tail not to blow and the darks in ears and nose not to choke too much.

I found I had to apply to lot of treatment to tail, ALTHOUGH the histogram did not show any clipping/hot whites?

Nikon D3S with 500f4
1/1250 @ f6.3
ISO 2500
+0,3EV

C&C Welcome

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andre, a pleasing portrait and personally I find the foliage a nice touch here.

Nicely framed, although again, I would like to have had a sliver more at the foot. The raised ears creates alertness adding to the fixed focus. Techs look good, but I might just add a hint of Contrast & Saturation (albeit viewing on the laptop) as I feel it adds some depth to the subject and helps provide some richness to those eyes. Not sure what you did, but the tail works.

Can't make up my mind what smell the worst, Wild Dogs or an Elephant in musth? BTW has a WD chase with some Roan, they had trapped a Roan calf in a shallow pan!!!

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Andre - A very nice wild dog portrait with good detail. The tail looks ok to me but they can be very white. I also would like to see a bit more room below. I do think you have balanced the left and right well with room for the dog to move into on the right but also enough room for it look back to the left into.

Steve, for me no contest on the smell, the lioness ripping into the stomach and intestine of the impala was by far the worst smell I have experienced on safari.

TFS,
Rachel

[haseeb badar]

Hi Andre -- You have captured a very nice image . The low angle makes this works for me , also the lovely colours in the foliage are adding to the scene . I agree on the bit more space at the bottom of the image part but overall you have got a lovely image of this truly amazing creature.

TFS !

[Andre Pretorius]

Thank you Steve and Rachel!

Steve, the image was captured in Neutral profile @ 1/3 over exp. To begin with it was a bleak, washed out image. I remember when starting processing, asking G about the BG- it was to bright for me with the darker subject- the viewer's eye
is drawn to the brightest areas. Was in two minds; decided to darken slightly by reducing brightness and contrast with mask. Was still too distracting (wanted all attention on the face/eyes), did a surface blur layer at low opacity.
Did Dehaze, Levels, and curves layer @ linear contrast to bring out more MT contrast on Dog. D&B layer, another curve to put more contrast on legs and body. Was careful not to push too much to choke the blacks on this painted dog. Did lighten eyes, inside nose cavities and inside ears. The tail..well let us not go there. No Cropping @ bottom, guilty of not moving focal point, was on eye.. dogs were moving..

Rachel- the top of tail was blown with NO detail- Histogram did not even touch RHS for highlights...

About the odours..have you been on a Game Viewer where some other guests had boiled eggs some time earlier..? Impala intestine is a breeze..

Steve, I would love to see some of the WD/Roan images!!!

Thank you Haseeb!!

[Steve Kaluski]

Steve, I would love to see some of the WD/Roan images!!!

By the time we got to the pan, the calf was just trying to get out, the WD regrouped and then tried to split the herd again in an effort to separate the calf again, at those speeds it was more a 'watching' POV rather than shooting. I was also mindful we had started into another concession too!.

[Stuart Philpott]

Hi Andre, this is beautiful. Andre, in many ways i'm a guy that looks at animals and images and is trying to learn how to capture all this beauty as a lesser player. My first thought as a layman (beyond wow) was trying to assimilate the balance of the dog and whether the image was level. You mentioned perception of viewer so I thought I'd chuck that very briefest of brief first impressions of simply a layman. Pondering for seconds he's turning inwards,but that initial impression is interesting to me,it might be to you.

It's gorgeous this image Andre, I really like the dof, the colours of the leaves add so much for me over a more blurred Bg. It's crafted like that last Andre. Hmm blown highlights and not being able to see them drives me round the bend. I concur on the foot of the image ,but hey it's very hard when things are moving. I also love those bottom left grasses it's the lean Andre that little bit that fits with the dog.

Difficult light maybe,but the colour pallette is one that just does it for me. very cool Andre i really like this,cheers especially for the details on processing.

take care

Stu

[Stuart Philpott]

PS my apologies it's late Guys what it a roan please? I only know it as a horse colour,but have no idea what animal this is.
Many thanks

Stu

[Jonathan Ashton]

Andre I am simply blown away by this image, I keep going back and back again to look at it. I like the image composition, I am wondering just what in particular makes the image stand out for me and I think it is the head and ears, the DOF is such that they really stand out and demand attention. I think the other thing is I can't remember when I have seen such a beautifully painted dog before.

[Andre Pretorius]

Thank you Stu and Jonathan!

Thank you for the kind words Jonathan, it pleases the heart to know you love them as much as us...
Thank you Stu, the tail was blown, tried my best to fix it, seems to have worked...Glad you enjoyed this special animal as much as us.
Roan is a very rare and special antelope with the Afrikaans name " Baster Gemsbok" which translate directly to 'Hybrid Gemsbok/Oryx '. The early Afrikaans Discoverers in Southern Africa did not
know this antelope- they named it as they experience it then. Ben Pretorius-ranger @ Punda Maria, Northern KNP- ran a special breeding project in Far North Eastern Kruger during late 80's to increase the numbers of this rare antelope.
Ask Mr Google for some images of this special antelope...

Steve, ANY images?

[Marc Mol]

You've done very well here Andre, and a perfect example of wildlife in their habitat.........it's where we find them

Agree on just a tad more contrast/vibrance, (rarely using saturation), agree with you on the difficulties of nailing the exposure on their bright tails, and you've achieved that nicely here.

TFS

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hi Andre, a nice pose showing autumn in the bush.
I would add some midtone contrast to the subject/focal plane only? Seems a bit thin for my tastes.
We just returned from 5 nights camping in northern Kruger and again reinforced why I prefer going the "extra mile" and visiting Shingwedzi and Punda Maria. Had great sightings all alone or max 3-4 courteous other vehicles.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Andre ,
lovely frame of the WD , i really like the overall look & feel in terms of color and tone . For me no need of any more contrast or color , just works fine for me .
Nice pose and the environment does look good too .
I just wish for a bit more room at the foot of the image and a bit less on the RHS , as i think the position is a bit " too" central for my taste .
Lovely work and you do really well in terms of processing .. BTW .... new teacher ??? or just another style

Keep up with that way of editing my Buthi

TFS Andreas

[Andre Pretorius]

Thank you Marc, Morkel and Andreas!

Morkel, seen some posts of your time in Kruger on FB, glad you and family had a stunning time!
Andreas, I get it lately a lot to have more room @ bottom- have to keep that more in mind in the field!
No new teacher, still trying to find my own workflow, focussing now more on targeted areas with masked layers. Still trying to master that magical/mystical mid-tone contrast... (dehaze filter applied here- thanks...)