Indian Rhino

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi folks ....a quick change to Indian subcontinent .
Image taken in the most famous place for this species in northern India ....
We found these three during a safari in early afternoon ....the typical pale washed out lighting , haze , and backlit .....not the best lighting conditions for a decent image . So i pushed things a bit to make it look pleasing for me ....in reality all looked quite flat . I think i went a bit darker than i should have for a realistic representation of the scene.....
Do not know why these three were hanging out together ...normally they do live more solitary .

Canon EOS 1Dx
EF 200 - 400 IS L at 238 mm
HH

F 9 ; Iso 3200 ; 1/1250 sec ; man exp and Auto Iso

Processed with DPP and PSCC 2019 ; slightly cropped for comp from all sides

Thanks for looking and commenting to my previous posting

Cheers Andreas

[John Mack]

Nice view of all the rhinos. They are pretty neat looking. Looks like they are made out of armour.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Andreas, I think this will be the first time I have mentioned anything about colours in relation to your posts but I am a little uneasy with them in this one. Is there a magenta cast?? The rhino hides look neutral but the grasses look an odd shade of green and the stems of the older grasses look on the red side of brown. Maybe the push processing is a little OTT??
I am now waiting to be told that once I have been to India I will know better!

That aside the image is well focused and I like to see the two in the same plane of focus.

[Morkel Erasmus]

A nice triplet here. It's a pity about the blades of grass coming up from the front, but not much you can do about that.
In an ideal world the one at the back would have been more "middle between" the other two.

[haseeb badar]

Andreas , you have captured the feel of Kaziranga. I loved the colours and the subject especially. The grass blades are a bit unfortunate but such opportunities don't come easily. Enjoyed viewing this frame.

TFS !

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks folks for your kind comments ..much appreciated .

Jon - to me the colors are reflecting the habitat quite well , maybe web can trust Haseeb ...the red grass looks red natural to me . The only thing i would maybe change is the hue of the grass in terms of going slightl more green , but during the day it does look more yellow.

As for the grass blades in the FG .... we were already standing upright on the back of the vehicle to avoid the blades , plus the Rhinos been lower .

Cheers Andreas

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Andreas - I like the wide view and including all 3 rhinos. Agree with the others about the grasses in the fg but not much you can do about them.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andreas, could you not have simply moved back in the vehicle to avoid the grasses? However that might then have put the three in a lesser better position?

We found these three during a safari in early afternoon ....the typical pale washed out lighting , haze , and backlit .....not the best lighting conditions for a decent image . So i pushed things a bit to make it look pleasing for me ....in reality all looked quite flat . I think i went a bit darker than i should have for a realistic representation of the scene.....

I like the idea and I feel you could go a bit more, also to get a bit more tonal contrast back into the rhino's, popping a a bit more red in I think would help the grasses and dropping H/S of the greens, maybe a Lumo/Curves or levels mask?

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks Rachel and Steve ...for your comments , much appreciated .

Steve .... well the grasses could not have been avoided moving forward and backward , for sure i would have asked the driver to do so !!! I was already standing on the seats ..... Regarding your tonal and color suggestions ( thanks for showing it offline ) .... indeed an option , and fully understand your reservation about my posting . In this cases i am sometimes not 100% sure how far to push the image away from the original scene . As you might know ...this Indian scenery around early afternoon can be so boring in terms of tone and color . So i tried to go not too far in the optimal tonal/ range ... for a " perfect " perceptual view .Instead keeping some of the washed out look ..... Well matter of taste , i guess .But again thanks for sharing your thoughts .
BTW .... what do you think about the frame apart from the things you stated .

Cheers Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

for sure i would have asked the driver to do so

But did you?

fully understand your reservation about my posting

No reservations at all, but few have been to India an so it would be hard to grasp how the grasses look.

So i tried to go not too far in the optimal tonal/ range ... for a " perfect " perceptual view .

No harm, fine.

BTW .... what do you think about the frame apart from the things you stated .

Not sure what more I can add... reminds me of the 'Terracotta army'.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Tried to ask ....... did not listen , as these three has been quite nervous , and that driver was nervous too . Plus there was another vehicle behind us .... the road was elevated and very narrow at that spot ( western range ) .
Thought you had some reservation due to your suggestions about tone and color ....but good to hear you have none .

Ok good ....maybe i expected more .... and actually i overlooked your wording in parts , sorry for that .

[Steve Kaluski]

maybe i expected more

Andreas, not sure what more I can add or indeed what you were expecting, as I have said ages ago, if folk want specific help they should highlight it in the initial thread , you have had John, Jon, Rachel and even Morkel too.

[Andreas Liedmann]

all good .... not help , just thoughts , do not take it too serious ( my question )

[Steve Kaluski]

do not take it too serious

I'm not, just trying to understand what you may have been looking for in feedback and anything in particular.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Andreas,

A bit late to comment as I had a busy week with lots of commitments, sorry! This thumbnail caught my eye tonight, and the title too. BTW always nice to see an Indian rhino and quite a treat to have three in one frame!

Compositionally this works quite well, although it would have been ideal to have the third rhino in the clear, so to speak. Pose is great from all three, they are alert and those lovely funnels/ears with fine orange hairs all pointing in the same direction ( for those who do not know, this species do not see so well and rely heavily on their hearing and sense of smell).

Andreas, after staring at this image for quite a while I came to conclusion those tall grasses with their strong gradations of green and yellow do not bother me. On the contrary, they play a certain role that somehow benefits the image, making it more interesting by providing a slight barrier while still allowing the viewer to take a peek. Just my opinion, I guess it's all a matter of interpretation and imagination

So I must say I enjoyed this image. It also made me think about things - not as much about PP work, more about certain situations and what I can do in the field when conditions are difficult.

Lastly, I am glad you decided to infuse an amount of colour and tonality to improve the appearance of this frame. You described it as being initially "flat" in your intro and now it looks quite vibrant to me. Not much you could do to the grey rhino so instead you focused on the environment... which in turn helps the subjects stand out - good thinking Boetie

Hope you have a nice rest of the evening,

Kind regards,