Specs: Canon EOS-1D Mark II N, Shooting Date/Time: 12/21/2008 11:02:49, Shutter Speed 1/400Sec. Av(Aperture Value) F8.0, Evaluative metering, Exposure Compensation +1, ISO 400, Lens: EF300mm f/2.8L IS USM, Focal Length: 300.0 mm. With Wimberley 2 Head on Gitzo Tripod. Image made from 50 feet away.
This is Tazlina, a female pure blooded timber Wolf. She weighs about 105 lbs, she has put on weight, and is 5 years old. Of course she has her winter coat on. She is a cautious wolf and will sneak up on you if you do not watch her. When you leave the pen, you have to back out and have your partner watch her with you, just for safety's sake. The owners can play with her and feed her treats most days. Today she was extra cautious and stayed at the far end of her pen till the very last part of my 2 hour stay with her. Boy did it get cold after a while! I waited purposely for her to come close and check me out, but wanted her to stay far enough away for a full body shot. This is a full 75% of the frame here and cropped for a 11x 14 print. The color version is better than the B&W version. Image made in overcast skies and no wind, thank goodness.
I hope you enjoy this image of a magnificent work of creation. All comments and thoughts welcomed.
Just a brief note here on the work flow; I used DPP from Canon to make some contrast and white balance changes, very slight changes. Then converted to a .Tiff and opened it in PS 6. Once there a s curve in curves, a 5 on contrast to still keep details in the blacks on the head and body without blocking them up.
I really twisted on that choice. I can see going darker on the blacks with more contrast. but I really wanted to keep those small color changes in her coat visible to the naked eye. After all is considered, I felt it was a personal preference. But I still appreciate all coments here on the image.
This took less than 3 minutes. And, I am sure it could be even better when produced from your RAW data, rather than from the jpeg presented. MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR IN CAMERA EFFORTS. I believe you owe it to yourself to invest in further post-production skills. Sorry the upload image is not working, will try again in a few minutes.
Whenever the lighting conditions are constant MANUAL exposure will provide a much higher degree of consistency. In Av... with a dark subject such as this the exposure will require a different degree of comp every time you recompose the image.
Best,
Chas
Last edited by Charles Glatzer; 12-21-2008 at 12:12 AM.
Wow! the changes in the snow, the shadows, whites, details, are amazing to me. Your right of course. I need to learn my PS more and use it to make the images better. Coming from you, a comment and or compliment is well appreciated. So are all the others too. Thanks for the re-post, encouragement and tips.