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Thread: Imfolozi Wild Dog

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Default Imfolozi Wild Dog

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    Dear Friends,

    It is rather late and I am in dire need of sleep after an evening filled with paperwork and paying bills, thought I'd quickly share with you what I saw last Saturday in the local Game Reserve.

    So not a long story tonight...My companions and I came upon a pack of fourteen Wild Dogs while driving around looking for subjects to photograph. All members of the pack were relaxed and enjoying the cool weather, we spent a great amount of time watching them and were rewarded from time to time with an opportunity to capture them on camera. Here is one fellow walking towards the vehicle to investigate

    Nikon D5
    Nikon 500 F4
    ISO 2500
    F6.3
    1/2500s

    PS The annoying little blob on his chin is in fact a tick. Needless to say, all I could think of was how to remove it and put some antibiotic ointment on that spot

    Thank you so much for taking the time to view, much appreciated. Comments and critique welcome, as always.

    Kind regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Wonderful pose of this wild dog Gabriela, I like the eye contact, the walking pose and details. Colours spot on so are the techs!! Nice BG too.

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriela - Always a thrill to see wild dogs. I like the inquisitive pose. It looks like it was overcast so I would reduce the magenta and red coming through on the dog. I would also apply another round of sharpening. Because the dogs were relaxed as you said and don't appear to have been on the hunt, I would have dropped the ISO and ss. 1/1600 would have been plenty. I hope the load shedding doesn't interfere too much with your internet.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriela, I like the position and having the 500 allows you the distance (POV angle) and to track the subject, so you have plenty of time for the subject to walk into frame and nail the shot. Having the WD slightly angled with that apprehensive look is nice, along with the slight bent front paw highlighting movement. I might have gone for a tad more DoF, guessing on distance, but not f/8. To me the image needs a CW rotation, a bit more tonal depth and the subject needs some additional sharpening, not sure why, as you know how to sharpen. Also I feel you can also ramp up a bit of colour too via Curves or a Channel, a hint of + Temp and some more +Magenta (Tint) will balance the OP before you start. Personally the branch RH needs to go.

    Rather than adding a RP I will send you my thinking easier.

    TFS
    Steve

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    BPN Member Bill Dix's Avatar
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    Great eye contact, and I like the dynamic pose with the raised foot. I could imagine a little more sharpening and tonal depth as others mentioned. I'm not sure going to f/7.1 would add much DOF on the beast -- you have the face in focus which matters most -- and it might hurt the nice soft BG.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    I'm not sure going to f/7.1 would add much DOF on the beast -- you have the face in focus which matters most -- and it might hurt the nice soft BG.
    Hi Bill, it may just have added that little bit extra from eyes to nose, plus the distance between subject and backdrop I feel is far enough, and so the 500mm will compress & diffuse the background to loose any increase. That's the great advantage of these fixed lens, the compression & bokeh.

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Thank you so much everyone, appreciated!

    Rachel I agree with you on the sharpening, been backing off lately because I tend to overdo it. What looks like magenta cast is in fact traces of blood. And you are right, it was overcast for most of the time, sometimes very dark and every now and then the sun came up. BTW we no longer have load shedding but lots of faults, power was off this afternoon and just came back now. Very annoying!

    I am very kin to do an RP on this one Steve, much easier to start afresh. More DoF would have been good but I only realised this when I looked at the image. Will look into the CW rotation and tonal depth, prune the branch and give the dog a little "punch" Some sharpening too, and I will leave the tick alone I promise

    Back soon...Hope you all have a lovely evening,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Gabriela tec bits well covered ,do like the way the Dog stands out against that nice bg and it's ganguly walking pose and a nice angle,very well caught.

    Keith.

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Many thanks dear Keith,

    Your comments are kind as always and much appreciated.

    Busy with an RP on this image as I received some guidance from Steve, sorry to take so long I am a bit overwhelmed with work commitments at the moment:)

    Kind regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Steve, sorry to take so long I am a bit overwhelmed with work commitments at the moment:)
    Likewise Gabriela, so I may miss the RP, but no problem we can catch up later.

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    Gabriela, I like the image overall -- pose, background, details, colours. With D500 and 500 mm lens, seeing the room around the subject, I assume WD is fair distance away and yet DOF is not enough to cover entire dog...I am always amazed how shapp DOF these big guns have. For this image, I think your choice of aperture seems fine to me as it has got head and front legs in focus.

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Thank you kindly Jay, much appreciated.

    If I remember well I cropped about 30% of the original frame. Subject was heading towards one of its siblings and the other chap was lying down, was hoping for some interaction and kept SS high. But all they did was groom each other, and unfortunately I did not get any decent images... just too much grass in front of their faces

    I feel I can improve this in terms of colours and planning to do the RP, just did not get the time. And will be back with more wild dog images soon, once again thank you for viewing and comments!

    Kind regards,

    Gabriela
    Gabriela Plesea

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