Bit of a Squeeze. Brown hare uk Lepus europeas

[Stuart Philpott]

Oh I know another,what can I say.

Guys I'm struggling a bit here, shot against pretty harsh light it's around 8:30am so 3hours or so after sun up. The sun is still low but it's a clear blue sky . Exposure based on not blowing too many hilights on the hare,but i'm not completely happy with my abilites to control the noise in the hare here. Or alternatively if my processing has made things worse. I know it's a lot to ask of the gear ,trying for images like this against harsh light .But they were so close and that can be so hard to achieve,I guess I can't be blamed for trying. A tad tight in frame, one gets what one is given.

Could /should exposure have been pushed more?

shot HH sitting,veggies the reason I'm not lower I've just had a leveret come so close I couldn't fit her head and ears in frame,this chap was following. Quite wonderful these encounters,he's yards away,but doesn't bolt,actually put his head down and had a good munch while pondering what on earth I am. The kidlet did almost the same The joys of the spring continue,although work pressure means so few visits now frankly it hurts.


Canon 1Div 300f2.8is 1.4extiii
Full frame HH sitting off knee processed in dpp4 (andreas oranges are at -3 sat what ever next Seriously though I'm reasonably happy colour wise,I do appreciate the guidance)
1/3200
f11
iso3200


Cheers for all the thoughts and help with my previous posts.

take care

Stu

[John Mack]

You did pretty good in the harsh light. Looks tight especially the top of the frame. The ears are so much bigger than the rabbits i see over here.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Stu, your Fieldcraft is really good to get so close, well done.

I appreciate why you could not get lower, but for me, if this is FF then it's just too tight, the subject needs room to breath. Being so close and to get all in 'sharp' I'm OK on the DoF, but the SS could have come down to say 1/2500, a small amount but ISO may have also dropped a smidgen too. Overall I find the image slightly dark, with the Blacks & Contrast being a little heavy. I think you have the sharpness there, but you are hampered with the Software you have sadly to really progress the file. The light wasn't on your side and impacts both on the capture and the PP side. I'll let Andreas chime in on the DPP side, I can't, but did have a 'tinker' for you as a 'comparison/direction' you may wish to think about, but a lot of little things to do to get to this stage though, but just my take.

TFS
Steve

[Jonathan Ashton]

Stu I like it very much and I am impressed with colours. (The orange trick is very useful!) I hope you don't mind but I have a version closer to yours with just a little shadow lifted and a tad more sharpening around the eye, I think this shows the light nicely in the ears too. It is rather tight in the frame but importantly you did not clip the ears and you got the feet in, so I think the image looks pretty cool.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stu - Aside from being tight in frame you did very well and remembered to shoot in portrait mode. I like what both Steve and Jon have done, particularly the way the eye pops on Steve's rp. I agree that you could have dropped both ss and ISO slightly in the field. DOF looks good.

TFS,
Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Stu well this looking so cool .....very well done in the field i think .
But you have overdone it in terms of framing ....i do agree with Steve , this hare needs a bit more space . But we all have been there ...and i am still there from time to time
In terms of color and tone it does look ok to me .....as a base file to get it into PS .....
But as i know DPP and its restrictions , but guess you can coax out more from the file just within DPP ....
Yes the oranges ....work from time to time , might try -2 instead .

And this is no trick...Jon ...just a slider to move

Well Steve has overdone it in his RP , and i guess he does see it like i do .....more a guidance .
Just keep going ..really like your hares

TFS Andreas

[Stuart Philpott]

You did pretty good in the harsh light. Looks tight especially the top of the frame. The ears are so much bigger than the rabbits i see over here.

I felt the ears were somewhat the star of the show John I did think of you while posting this. I must show you our bunny,again non native. They'll be far more like what you see John .John the leverets are larger proportionally. larger,they make me smile


I feel I did ,OK in the light John,and I haven't read the above/below posts yet,but feel there is more in my gut. Backlit interests me deeply John. So I'm sort of sharing some lovely backlit ears,slightly squished it has to be said and digging with this post at the same time

take care buddy

Stu

[Stuart Philpott]

Hi guys,thanks so much for the feedback.Yes too tight I know,with hindsight no ext would have been good!!

Rachel Steve cheers on the words on techs, I need to hones these,an important asset for me this advice.

Steve John,bless you for the reposts,very different and thought provoking. I'll leave colour for the minute,it's so subjective. But it's how you have both handled the light....the contrast that is really helpful. I struggled here It's really hard not being able to try and emulate what you both have done,driving me nuts at the moment.Hey ho!!

Andreas, thanks for your thoughts,I'll try -2.Handling this level of contrast in dpp was really hard. I will have another try. There are some quite nice frames surrounding this one,including the leveret,all similar techs,so I'd like to squeeze as much as I can from the frame.

thanks everyone

stu

[keith mitchell]

Stu I totally agree with you re the ears which you have got spot on with the pink colour and the blood veins showing clearly,a bit tight in the frame already discussed but very well done with what you have got.

Keith.