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Thread: Death struggle

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    IOTY Winner 2008 Chris van Rooyen's Avatar
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    Default Death struggle

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    I photographed this scene in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve last year. The struggle lasted about 10 minutes in complete silence, before the impala succumbed to the cheetah's stranglehold. The light levels were extremely low, I had to drop down to 100th of a second and rely on the VR to safe the image. I removed one distracting grass stem. No crop. Processing in LR and PS.

    Camera Model: NIKON D5
    Date/Time: 2018:02:13 18:47:05
    Shutter speed: 1/100 sec
    Aperture: 2.8
    Exposure mode: Manual
    Exposure compensation: +1/3
    Metering mode: Multi-segment
    ISO: 4000
    Lens: 300.0 mm f/2.8 handheld

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Well seen and nicely executed Chris.

    I do like the warm, saturated light and the framing works with a low POV. Blades of grass are what they are, no avoiding them. Being side on to the action was good and square on to the sensor for greater capture.

    Reducing and or removing the blue cast from the Impala's muzzle and eye would be an improvement IMHO. Sadly I find the limited DoF not ideal, the focus point appears to be on the side of the Cheetah head (?), the eye of the Impala not quite sharp, would like both to have been. The IQ looks good, but I have as yet to see any images of the D5 where ISO is pushed, images seem to be very reserved in their setting compare to how far a few of us push the Canon 1DX MKII (AKA The Game changer), any reason why you didn't push the camera for greater DoF say f/5.6 or even 6.3? Considering Nikons past history and pedigree on high ISO, I personally think the D3S/D4s still hold the ground.

    TFS
    Steve

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    IOTY Winner 2008 Chris van Rooyen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    Well seen and nicely executed Chris.

    I do like the warm, saturated light and the framing works with a low POV. Blades of grass are what they are, no avoiding them. Being side on to the action was good and square on to the sensor for greater capture.

    Reducing and or removing the blue cast from the Impala's muzzle and eye would be an improvement IMHO. Sadly I find the limited DoF not ideal, the focus point appears to be on the side of the Cheetah head (?), the eye of the Impala not quite sharp, would like both to have been. The IQ looks good, but I have as yet to see any images of the D5 where ISO is pushed, images seem to be very reserved in their setting compare to how far a few of us push the Canon 1DX MKII (AKA The Game changer), any reason why you didn't push the camera for greater DoF say f/5.6 or even 6.3? Considering Nikons past history and pedigree on high ISO, I personally think the D3S/D4s still hold the ground.

    TFS
    Steve
    Hi Steve thanks for the comments and suggestions. As far as the blue cast on the impala's eye is concerned, I believe what we are seeing here is the reflection of the sky in an eye which is starting to glaze over - I have seen this on other images of a similar nature. I take your point on the DoF, my thinking here was to keep the ISO as low as possible by using the lens wide open, to prevent excessive noise. I do agree that the D3s definitely has the edge on the D5 when it comes to high ISO IQ. I cannot really comment on the Canon 1DX MKII as I have never used one.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Chris, thanks for coming back as it's good and healthy to have exchanges like this as we can all learn from each other I feel.

    The blue, I'm not sure, here is a RP without the blue and a slight control of contrast that LR likes to include behind the scenes for comparison. I do agree on keeping ISO down as it also retains the Dynamic Range, (interesting after a comparison testing to see the D850, D810 and the D800E all having very similar results), but I would trade a slightly noisy image for a hint more DoF personally . Perhaps the impala just needs a little more selective sharpening with hindsight, WDYT?

  5. #5
    IOTY Winner 2008 Chris van Rooyen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    Hi Chris, thanks for coming back as it's good and healthy to have exchanges like this as we can all learn from each other I feel.

    The blue, I'm not sure, here is a RP without the blue and a slight control of contrast that LR likes to include behind the scenes for comparison. I do agree on keeping ISO down as it also retains the Dynamic Range, (interesting after a comparison testing to see the D850, D810 and the D800E all having very similar results), but I would trade a slightly noisy image for a hint more DoF personally . Perhaps the impala just needs a little more selective sharpening with hindsight, WDYT?
    Yes, these exchanges are indeed valuable Yup, I think you are right, the impala could have done with some selective sharpening. As far as the RP is concerned, the colours seem a tiny bit flat for my taste...

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    As far as the RP is concerned, the colours seem a tiny bit flat for my taste...
    Hi Chris, the only element that makes the biggest difference is the reduction of Blue, noticeable in the Impala whites, if you keep it in the eye then I would still reduce it, but perhaps not as much, again personal choice. Because of this it will also be held within the colour 'green' of the image, therefore an easy fix is just to layer & mask, but overall the whites are cleaner overall.

    With the raw you will have much more control compared to a 256 sRGB image and target the colour in a more controlled and selective manner.

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    Great frame. Everthing looks well balanced here. The moment is perfectly captured. I prefer the original post.

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    Hi Chris, a good action frame with dramatic elements on display. The composition works and the points on DOF and colour are well covered by Steve. AM sure it was a scene you will remember for a long time.

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    Great (slow) action you have here. The way the cheetah has the horn under its armpit to make it impossible to twist out is surely not an accident.

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    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    A cracking image here Chris. Love the low POV and tension here.

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    but I have as yet to see any images of the D5 where ISO is pushed, images seem to be very reserved in their setting compare to how far a few of us push the Canon 1DX MKII (AKA The Game changer), any reason why you didn't push the camera for greater DoF say f/5.6 or even 6.3? Considering Nikons past history and pedigree on high ISO, I personally think the D3S/D4s still hold the ground.

    TFS
    Steve

    I've remained silent too long ........

    This just made me laugh here , you've obviously not bothered nor cared to view my Hi ISO D5 images, and to call the 1DX II the game changer is just so wrong, a mantle that the D3/D4/D5 line of "game changers" have held since the D3 was introduced back in '07. Not just my opinion, but a common and known fact.

    Putting aside our Nikon/Canon allegiances and having said all that I do agree with you here that Chris had ample room to push the ISO/DOF settings much further.
    Last edited by Marc Mol; 02-17-2019 at 04:49 PM.


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    Excellent moment and framing Chris . Agree with what Steve has to say abt the dof and colours as well . nice one.

    TFS !

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