Hare Today

[Dave Goldberg]

I can usually count on at least one rabbit to greet me in the morning at the Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Woodbridge, Virginia. I have no idea how old this guy is, but I think its interesting how the grey helps him blend in with the gravel roadway. Handheld with knee-pod approach. Edited on ON1, with NR, basic tone and color adjustments and with Channel Mixer applied to assist in white balance. Also applied local adjustments for targeted sharpening, localized noise reduction removal of distractions.

Canon R7 with Sigma 150-600C
1/640", f/6.3, ISO 3200, FL 600mm, EV 0

[Jonathan Ashton]

I have slight reservations over offering comments on the colours but compared to European rabbits this one looks a little too brown. The earth and grass appear overexposed to me. Sharpening of the fur looks pretty good and the composition looks fine.

[Dave Goldberg]

I have slight reservations over offering comments on the colours but compared to European rabbits this one looks a little too brown. The earth and grass appear overexposed to me. Sharpening of the fur looks pretty good and the composition looks fine.

Thank you. I think the brown hue is about right, but might be a bit over saturated. I suspected the ground area was too bright. I have a tendency to make my images too dark on my calibrated monitor, and I may have over compensated on this one. I appreciate the feedback.

Dave G.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Dave, OK now back home and in the 'Bat Cave' so I can look at this properly.

Firstly why are you swopping raw converters and changing you PP Workflow. Your best bet is to stick to a software you know and understand, in that way you will have a more logical workflow that is consistent and something you can build on with knowledge and experience. Chopping and changing just spells disaster and more like a Deer caught in the headlights, not knowing which way to go.

Overall I like the simplicity, shot in some sweet light and the fact you have no distracting elements around the subject. The colours do appear off, overall it's too blue, if I take the tail to get a 50: 50: 50 RGB values so I'm starting with no colour basis, the I'm looking at around +8 Temp and +11 Tint that would be my starting point, you can then enhance colours accordingly. Yes the black/contrast is a bit heavy, reducing that will help the detail and sharpness, by p[ushing them you can easily over compensate the sharpening and it then looks crunchy. I would like to have a bit more head turn towards camera, as its stands its looking away. Cropping, the boxy crop is OK, but with a bit more below, to the RHS and LHS, going for a 3x2 this giving a more all round for the subject to breathe and look into, with the eye sitting on the RoT's. If possible getting flat to the floor with a bit of OOF FG would have been a better angle and more at eye level. Just boosting the colour in the ears would be great as the light shines through.

Nice encounter, just watch you SS, getting a perfect exposure ie ETTR, upping the ISO NR is minimal and easy to address.

Look forward to seeing more.

TFS
Steve

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Dave,

Who can resist a rabbit when it sits on the pathway!

Nice image, I like the way the design works with the rabbit against the soft background. I would probably have cropped half the distance above the rabbit to the frame edge, but that's just me!

Fur looks nicely sharpened.

Thanks for sharing,

Gerald

[Dave Goldberg]

Hi Steve, welcome back. I use both DT and ON1 as the situation merits, usually I'll turn to ON1 if I have high ISO and I can use it's internal denoising which is superior to DT. I beta test development versions for both programs and am well versed with each of them and generally have no problem translating tutorials for LR, PS, and Capture 1 to either of them. So, I consider any issues with my edits as the fault of the man behind the keyboard..

So here's the RP based on everyone's comments. The recommendations are all greatly appreciated.

Dave G.

[Gabriela Plesea]

I think it's super cute, Dave. For me the pose is great (he looks alert) and so is head angle, since I tend to like more unconventional stuff Love those big black eyes and the little fluffy tail is adorable.

Colour-wise the RP looks more natural, bear in mind I have never seen the special in real life. Composition looks better too. My knowledge and PP skills are nowhere near Steve's and I always trust his judgement, he has helped me tremendously over time. The subject in the OP looked a bit 'patchy' in terms of colour, albeit I did like that bit of orange light on the ears.

My apologies for coming in so late, I tend to drift in and out because of my rather hectic lifestyle and also, my presence here often relies on the availability of electricity and network. Really enjoy being here and I was happy to see some new names pop up, so a warm welcome from me and I sincerely hope to see more from you.

Kind regards,