Another shot from the Okavango Delta. She was grazing on some bushes and popped her head up to check for danger. Originally captured in landscape but cropped to portrait, essentially full frame vertically. Midtone contrast selectively raised on Kudu. I do think kudu are rather beautiful antelope. Thanks for looking and any comments you may have.
Technical: Canon 80D with Lens EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm handheld. Manual exposure 1/400, f7.1, ISO 800. Processed in Canon DPP 4 (digital lens optimiser @ 50, Sharpness = 3, crop, lighting adjustments, default NR) then exported 16 bit TIFF to Photoshop Elements with Neat Image NR plugin where very modest NR applied globally along with some sharpening. Sharpened (sharpness, radius = 0.4 pixels, 50%) after final size reduction.
Hi Glenn - This looks very good with nice tones and detail. The oxpecker is a bonus. Good eye contact from these often shy antelopes. They are one of my favorites, especially the curving horns of the males.
Hi Glenn, I like the slight quirky angle of the neck, almost providing a view of the OxP to the viewer and the alert pose of the head and ears. Again, like the Leopard I wondered if you could have moved to your right to exclude the tree in the BKG? We have covered ISO and SS before and I know the limitations you have, some may say 1/400 is OK, I would push it a bit more, but DoF looks good here.
Overall I find the image a bit flat, everything looking a bit 'the same' tonally, with no real variations, likewise in colour too, as the image has no real 'separation or standout'. Just opening up the exposure a fraction, the shadows, dropping the whites a fraction (in parts, upping in others i.e. the ears) and adding some saturation just lifts it I think, wether you then look at the 'Colour side' is personal choice, but in doing so you can bring more depth into the subject. Working with the OP does limit things, but hopefully it may illustrate the points, likewise not having the tree in is a bonus and a simple fix if you so wish.
The image has more potential Glenn and I feel if you have the time, I would explore the RAW more and also with PE.
Thanks Rachel, Steve and John. I am again indebted to you Steve for the time you've spent reworking this. Based on your suggestions I've also tried - more crudely and without your finesse. I need to hone my technique considerably. Nevertheless, I think the reworked shot (and your repost) are better than my original. I've left the tree. I don't especially like doing large scale cloning or changes generally so I've resisted. Moving the vehicle may have helped but there were some elements off to the left as well that may have caused problems so may not have made a lot of difference in the end. Thank you all again.
Hi Glenn -- This is a very fine image , like the others I loved that curved neck and the oxpecker is a real bonus . I liked what Steve has done with his RP , certainly makes the image look even better, especially with that tree gone from the BKG, but again that is very subjective. I feel your RP looks a bit strong , especially the blacks and lacks those finer details . Colours are very subjective topic but i feel slightly cooler shade looks more pleasing . A very nice image though .
Hi Glenn, I'm now away and on the laptop so I can't sadly reply to your RP, sorry. I agree on large manipulation and not something I would also consider, but in this instance it was so easy to do, I thought it was worth posting the option.