Photobomed brown hare(s) Lepus europeas UK

[Stuart Philpott]

Another image from that wonderful encounter recently. Quite lovely this my lady is sat directly behind me watching this encounter through binos maybe a 100yrds away. She's giggling because the little one was leaning so far it looked like she would topple over. This was the only negative all evening I struggled to split the two hares up. They were so close and I simply couldn't move left,because of the sea of foot high rape stems . So I guess the oof hare might ruin this frame for some. This is a brief pause in grooming the younger is copying the more obvious behaviour of the foreground animal. Obviously I have concerns about the hot spot on the back leg,guys can this be tamed, I can't save those hilights in DPP but maybe one day soon I might be able to do something??

Steve's previous note about pulling back the blue sat(70%) implemented here along with green sat -1 yellow sat -2 orange sat -1 orange hue -1(I wonder if this tinge of red might be too much) overal sat +1 hue -1 gamma mid point 0.47 WB from eye dropper shadows +2 hilights-3 pic style fine detail sharpness pushed to 9. cloned out dust spots

Canon 1Div 300f2.8 is 1.4 ext iii
1/1600
f/8
iso 3200

Thanks for all the constructive comments on my previous images

take care all

stu

[Gabriela Plesea]

Wonderful encounter indeed, Stu.

I like the behaviour aspect of this frame! I noticed Bat Eared Foxes doing the same thing, the young acting as a mirror and copying every move of the parent:)

Unsure about the OOF Hare though so I tried something to balance the fame a bit, let me know if this works for you. The colours seem fine to me. HL you can actually tame a bit, in various ways, depending on the software available. I just dropped exposure a tad and applied selectively, it is such a small spot and not too bothersome IMO. I also sharpened the youngster's face but I am afraid I went a bit too far. What really concerned me here was the amount of negative space on the LHS and the dark vegetation ( black patch in the top left corner). Since you probably want the focus to be on the small Hare

Glad you and your lovely lady are having fun out there. I guess you've learnt so much about the species you can now write a book about it

Wishing you a lovely evening,

[Stuart Philpott]

Wonderful encounter indeed, Stu.

I like the behaviour aspect of this frame! I noticed Bat Eared Foxes doing the same thing, the young acting as a mirror and copying every move of the parent:)

Unsure about the OOF Hare though so I tried something to balance the fame a bit, let me know if this works for you. The colours seem fine to me. HL you can actually tame a bit, in various ways, depending on the software available. I just dropped exposure a tad and applied selectively, it is such a small spot and not too bothersome IMO. I also sharpened the youngster's face but I am afraid I went a bit too far. What really concerned me here was the amount of negative space on the LHS and the dark vegetation ( black patch in the top left corner). Since you probably want the focus to be on the small Hare

Glad you and your lovely lady are having fun out there. I guess you've learnt so much about the species you can now write a book about it

Wishing you a lovely evening,

It is it has been Gabriela and yes two kindrid souls talking to hares......... alot of fun (got an hour in with them tonight) ..........difficult to articulate 33 years of best mates. She's got these eyes that see everything tis unreal!!! I've given here some binoculars my pressie from my grafting new job,all I hear about is what i missed now

Kiddo I'm shattered I need time to appraise what you have done,initial thought was a tiny bit congested now but I need time to think.

Gabriela bless you for taking the time for the edit,I wanted to thank you now,because once the grind starts I might not get here for days.


It's ironic you use the word mirror as we went through these and frankly I wished to be able to be able to move just yards left to split them I kept musing the word reflection.The foreground lass is not my ideal,but somehow i've warmed to these. I like them more than I thought I would
The sheer hours being worked have clobbered my words mate . I'm not done not beat.........I've got my start but realised I needed to reappraise my story,not only that but it keeps moving, evolving where I felt it had ended .................. pondered constantly !!!

take care must go hellish day tomorrow

hope you got to see something special too

stu

[John Mack]

Nice balanced image here with the out of focus hare in the foreground and the in focus hair it the background. Nice light as well.

[Glenn Pure]

I really like the hare on the left but the OOF one doesn't work for me in this frame. What about this as another option - if the removal of the OOF hare doesn't clash with your ethics. Personally, it's not something I would normally do but I do like this pose and seems a shame not to try a few different things here.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stu - Nice light, though it does look a little red but you were there. Get the wb right and most of the colors should be ok. You must have been close because the dof is narrow even at f8. So again kudos on the fieldcraft. Unfortunately, I am one of those for whom the comp does not work with the other oof hare ruining the frame. I also would be careful about too extreme a crop as it will affect IQ.

TFS,
Rachel

[haseeb badar]

Hi Stu -- lovely light and nice low pov. I am with Rachel here , the comp is not working for me and also the colours can be worked upon. But you are making some good progress recently . So keep them coming .

TFS !

[Stuart Philpott]

A brief but heart felt thanks for all the replies.Rachel yes it's the orange hue,that has affected the reds,it's tricky the light was changing,but as I mentioned i'm not completely sure about this. Also yes very aware regarding large crops. Yes close( reading the lens and memory??) Rachel roughly 7 to 10 yardsmeters I tried to stay at ten but sometimes they come too close.

Glenn buddy thanks mate,
essentially you have posted the image I wanted to make but just could not split them. As mused i've warmed to these images(I have many more, front hare in focus, images in landscape..... and portrait all trying to find " the frame") . Maybe focus on the opposite hare might help things,I felt this frame and a larger oof hare up front would not be every ones cup of tea (to everyone's liking). Then again I am sort of drawn the them,that might be sentimentality though. The behaviours are cool Glenn the copying . All that said most important to me is you get and understand my gratitude,edits are of huge use to me Glenn but because i'm functioning on an aged pc I can't yet have access to more post processing power. Mate that I can't give back is probably harder than not having. It'll come Glenn tonnes to learn,having a blast. ....

Kiddo always be honest with me,i love what you do and also admire deeply how you work with your choice in camera. I can't do what you have here: crop the larger kid out. So it's been incredibly useful to stare at this edit. 'corse I have to go back and do better (it's the law ) rather than crop this one.

i'm unsure on ethics it just needs to be honest mate, I wouldn't want to be bound by rules it might be art one day

hi Hasseeb and John thanks guys

cheers especially the two edits they have given me much to think about

take care

stu

[Glenn Pure]

i'm unsure on ethics it just needs to be honest mate, I wouldn't want to be bound by rules it might be art one day
stu

Stu, there are no rules unless you are entering nature photography competitions where adding or removing elements and cloning on any significant scale aren't usually allowed. Otherwise, it's entirely your choice and level of comfort. I am personally erring to less and less cloning but still do minor edits. No reason why you can't try something here and decide later not to go that far in the future.

[Stuart Philpott]

Stu, there are no rules unless you are entering nature photography competitions where adding or removing elements and cloning on any significant scale aren't usually allowed. Otherwise, it's entirely your choice and level of comfort. I am personally erring to less and less cloning but still do minor edits. No reason why you can't try something here and decide later not to go that far in the future.

Yup Glenn , I guess you are right about rules . Maybe a poor choice of words on my part.
I don't think the stamp tool in dpp would be capable of this type of cloning though mate? I would gladly stand corrected though!! So unless it is possible, I'm sort of scuppered to go further,as I have no other options as of yet.Hence be being so grateful for your edit and time Really though Glenn that ethos of getting it as much right in camera is what i'm questing for . While I concur it's good to experiment and learn what is possible, I don't think I'll ever be terribly happy cloning out major elements. like in this image. I simply feel I should go back until I make the image I wanted

many thanks

take care

stu

[Glenn Pure]

Hi Stu. I agree it's best to get as much right in camera as possible but not always feasible. Sometimes nature just doesn't want to cooperate. How inconsiderate!

As for tools for adjustments, have you considered Photoshop Elements? It does a lot of key things that full blown Photoshop does but can be purchased outright (ie, no annual subscription) for a fairly good price (here in Australia, about $140). Or you could try free editing tools like GIMP but it can only handle 8 bit files although is quite powerful otherwise. The main thing you will benefit from moving to tools like this, I think, is being able to make selective adjustments to your images for lighting, noise, colour etc. That's a big leap forward from being limited only to global adjustments.