No funny stuff son. Got my eye on you.

[Bretoteanu Dan]

Hy, this is a shot of a chamoix taken last summer in August on a plateau at the intersection of severals hiking trails in the Totes Gebirge, in Grunau, Austria. My settings were ISO 200, f 5.6 , SS 1/500 at 400 mm on a 1-4 mk. II + 7D. I was crawling back toward the car, which was still a very long way of, when I saw this chamoix looking at me.I manange to grab 2 shoots (wish I would have thought then to focus and recompose, not stick to the central point), then it it went away, and then returned for a 60 minute (or more) shooting session, quite a docile model. It just feels great when an animal lets you so close and it is not disturbed by your presence. In LR 5.6 I increased the exposure by 0.30, clipped the blacks by +10, increased clarity by 10 and vibrance and saturation by 5. Sharpened it by 60 eith radius set at 0.5 and masking at 80. Then noise reduction followed, +10 luminance. I cropped it trying to place the head in the lower left part of the frame, then exported as jpeg, with standard sharpening for screen.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Bretoteanu -- A first time for me, the chamoix ! A peeping tom kind of look amidst some strong light as it appears. A different perspective with the subject shyly seeking through the rocks but for me it is not working as the rock in the foreground is very dominating and the way it is covering the snout is just not making it for me , looks a bit awkward. It gets sometimes difficult to focus in such situations, but you have done well in that department. Also the highlights on the snout looks clipped because of the bright light hitting on it.

Why the need of NR ? your iso is way to low for that and also the light looks very bright !

But a nice attempt to show a different specie, keep them coming and I hope the comment above wont dissuade you from posting more of this specie .

TFS !

[Bretoteanu Dan]

Thank you for you comment Haseeb. I had a different scene in mind (and still have) but it was a take it or leave it occasion. Got a lot more shots of the chamoix, in better light (I think) and in better postures and I'll post some of those. Your comments don't disuade me, they're welcome.

[Gabriela Plesea]

A very good evening to you Dan,

And thank you for joining us again on BPN Wildlife, do not remember seeing an image of a chamoix here before so a first for me too:)

What strikes me most in your frame is the background and its colours, I quite like it even though it detracts the eye from the subject to some extent. The foreground is a bit of a problem though, not only it is a bit bright but conceals part of the subject's face. Consequently, the chamoix - I feel - occupies not enough space in the frame, I would crop a little tighter for more impact if IQ allows.

Dan, thank you so much for sharing your processing steps with us. I take it you only use LR and no PS, and wondering if those adjustments you mentioned were applied to the entire frame? It might have been useful to increase exposure in places, but have you considered those already bright white patches and what happened to them when you upped exposure overall? Another question (sorry!!!) what did you mean by "clipped the blacks"? I might have misunderstood what you meant, therefore my question. Since one needs to retain detail in the blacks and in doing so one tries to avoid clipping. One last thought, the image appears slightly oversaturated and a tad too much contrast, not sure the use of the clarity slider was necessary either.

Not an easy one to pull off and I agree, the lighting conditions were rather difficult. Since the subject became rather cooperative at some stage you should have tried to shift your position a bit, found a better angle?

I really look forward to see other images you captured of this antelope, so keep them coming please! Should you need any feedback or help with processing you are welcome to drop me a PM anytime

Warmest regards,

[Gabriela Plesea]

PS. Forgot to mention, I love the title

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi, I'm not sure if you go by Brett or Dan (I see Brett in your watermark). It's always nice to see a different species. I like the shy pose with the chamoix peering over the rock and the eye contact but agree it needed to be a bit bigger in frame and the fg rock a little less dominant. It does look the light was harsh. Gabriela has asked several good questions and like Haseeb, I am surprised you needed any NR at ISO 400 unless the image was underexposed and bringing it up in post introduced noise. Looking forward to seeing more from your sighting.

TFS,
Rachel

[Bretoteanu Dan]

Thank you for your comments Gabriela. The Bg is made of OOF rocks which were in the shade, it was late in the afternoon. The foreground...well, it is as it is, there was no way of getting a different angle, I manage to grab 2 almost identical shots and then it was gone. I thought about cropping a little closer, but I thought it would ruin IQ, but maybe I'll give it a try. you are right, I only use LR, I'm trying to develop a workflow, but sometimes I feel like its chinese to me (plan on buying Arash's guide to DPP4). Apart from the sharpening, when I used masking, the adjustments I believe are applied to the entire picture. About the white patches, especially the snout, I tried lowering the highlights, but I saw no improvement, so I gave up. About clipping the blacks, there was a blue part at the base of the horns in LR, so by adjusting the black chanel towards the + side it dissapeared. Probably it was not the best way to formulate it, in LR it says when I select the blacks "modify black clipping with +/-keys", so I should have said i recovered the blacks. Hold the tarr and feathers, I'm learning the ropes of LR A bit later it returned and became ignorant of me, so I have better shots, I'll selecte one, PP and post it. About the saturation, maybe I was a bit zealous with the clarity and vibrance&saturation, should have left them at 0 instead of upping them with 10 and 5.

[Bretoteanu Dan]

Hy Rachel, Brett is actualy a short of my family name, Bretoteanu, thats why I choose this watermark. I thought about cropping the way you suggested, but I felt I would be at the expense of iIQ. Perhaps I was a bit overzealous with the noise reduction, will be more carefull next time.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much for explanations, dear Dan. I understand your struggles with processing, I guess we've all been there. But believe me it does get easier with time, you just need to put in an hour or two in the evenings, whenever you can. In terms of PP work I personally keep it simple and try not overdo things. I also check everyone's exif when I open the thumbnails (especially when I like an image) and just about every comment and bit of advice passed on by others. IMO you can do so much more in LR than you are doing right now, see if you can source Scott Kelby's book. I am not familiar with DPP4, I am afraid. But a great fan of Arash's images, and I am sure the info he provides in his guide will be helpful to you. Some years back I was warned against using Photoshop, someone told me one needs a degree to make sense of it! But it wasn't so. I might not use the software to its full potential yet, but I certainly can't do without it:)

Dan, you have some nice gear to work with as well as photographic opportunities. I look forward to more from you, and remember I am always there if you need a bit of help

Warmest regards,

Thank you for your comments Gabriela. The Bg is made of OOF rocks which were in the shade, it was late in the afternoon. The foreground...well, it is as it is, there was no way of getting a different angle, I manage to grab 2 almost identical shots and then it was gone. I thought about cropping a little closer, but I thought it would ruin IQ, but maybe I'll give it a try. you are right, I only use LR, I'm trying to develop a workflow, but sometimes I feel like its chinese to me (plan on buying Arash's guide to DPP4). Apart from the sharpening, when I used masking, the adjustments I believe are applied to the entire picture. About the white patches, especially the snout, I tried lowering the highlights, but I saw no improvement, so I gave up. About clipping the blacks, there was a blue part at the base of the horns in LR, so by adjusting the black chanel towards the + side it dissapeared. Probably it was not the best way to formulate it, in LR it says when I select the blacks "modify black clipping with +/-keys", so I should have said i recovered the blacks. Hold the tarr and feathers, I'm learning the ropes of LR A bit later it returned and became ignorant of me, so I have better shots, I'll selecte one, PP and post it. About the saturation, maybe I was a bit zealous with the clarity and vibrance&saturation, should have left them at 0 instead of upping them with 10 and 5.