White Rhinos

[Glenn Pure]

Two rhinos in north eastern South Africa. I've gone for a higher contrast traditionally looking tonal range for this - and am still having a lot of fun each time I try Silver Efex Pro. I've played around with quite a lot of the sliders for this one including the highlights and shadows, 'structure' sliders for all three tonal ranges and added toning to both the 'silver' and paper, all in warm tones. I did try cooler tones but simply didn't like it. This is a full uncropped frame (a rarity for me).

Technical: Canon 80D with Lens EF 100-400mm Mark II at 400mm handheld. Manual exposure 1/320, f6.3, ISO 1250. Processed in Canon DPP 4 (digital lens optimiser @ 50, Sharpness = 3, crop, lighting adjustments, default NR) then exported 16 bit TIFF to Photoshop Elements and Nik Silver Effects Pro plug-in where B&W conversion and toning performed. Sharpened (sharpness function: remove Gaussian blur, radius = 0.3 pixels, 50%) after final size reduction.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Glenn -- Wow, two Rhinos and that too staring at you , must have been some experience . I feel the image is quite noisy and also the busy settings aren't helping here. I would have liked a bit more space at the foot for the one on the lhs . Not sure the conversion works in this case .

TFS !

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Glenn, this is definitely a "Wow - Two rhinos!"

I'm not expert at critiquing B&W conversions, but I do like the textures that you have brought up on the beasties' hides.

I think the 'noise' that Haseeb sees is possibly coming from the structure in Silver Effects. Perhaps you can mask the background when you apply the structure, or mask the rhinos and apply NR.

Great sighting!

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Glenn - I too love that you got 2 rhinos and both looking at you. I like the conversions and tones. It's great that you are enjoying experimenting in Silver Efex. I do think the hides look a bit too smooth and would bring out more texture if it was mine. Try using a Control Point or 2 to apply structure to the heads and shoulders only. I also would prefer a bit more room all around the rhinos.

TFS,
Rachel

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Glenn,

Always great to see rhino with horn intact, a rarity nowadays. Those two look so beautiful, fit and healthy. I understand this is FF so I abstain from asking for more space around the subjects:) And I must say I quite like the pose and positioning within the frame.

But I really wish for more SS

In terms of conversion there are many options to choose from while experimenting. It would be interesting to see a high key, or rather overexposed look here. I do like the tones and colours you have chosen but feel the subjects need to stand out more, how about a linear curve applied selectively for more definition?

Keep playing Glenn, I see you are having fun - I am enjoying your images

Kind regards,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Glenn this is lovely to have two those stunning creatures in front of you and both looking at the viewer , must go visit Gabriela again for looking at some Rhino .
Crop , conversion and toning is quite nice for me , has a silvery touch i think .Agree about the noise/texture in the BG ....well the BG is anyway bothering me a bit , i feel you need more separation to make the subject stand out .
At this stage i do see an easy option , just lower the contrast a lot in the BG .
I would try to do the whole process completely without NIK , from my memory i think you told us you have been in the chemical darkroom for B/W processing . With that knowledge i would stay away even more from that filter stuff

TFS Andreas

[Glenn Pure]

Thank you all for having a look and commenting. It seems the common theme is to increase the separation of the animals from the background. So I've had another play. I've kept the toning and roughly similar contrast, structure and lighting (not exactly the same as I didn't not what I did last time). But I've now toned down and flattened the background. I think this helps so thanks. BTW, we saw rhinos I think every time we went on our game drives in this area and by the end were saying 'no another rhino'! Hard to imagine. We even saw a small group on the drive out to our next destination. Maybe just luck?

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Glenn,
I like the new conversion - added separation and cleaner background helps - plus the improvements to the toning on the beasties.