Canon EOS-1D Mark III
12/11/08 10:21:41 AM
Manual Exposure, 1/400, f/5.6
Evaluative Metering
ISO 800
EF500mm f/4L IS USM
Home-made beanbag
These young elephants were resting in the shade at Tarangire National Park in Tanzania. I found the evident tenderness between the two quite moving. To get good rendition of the elephants, the background went very high key, so I brought in a bit of cyan in the sky area to temper the abrupt transition.
The added contrast and sharpen really helps. Good job capturing the moment. I think changing the BG sky to be more blue would help with Saby's comment on the colors. The sky has a green cast. If you select the sky (magic wand will easily do that) and use Hue/Saturation, desaturate the green channel or the master channel to move it more neutral in color.
Last edited by Robert Amoruso; 02-24-2009 at 11:13 PM.
Thank you all for your thoughts. The editing possibilities do abound, and on second look I must agree with Sabyasachi that the sky color I created is a bit noxious. It was originally plain bright white, since I was shooting uphill toward a sky that was far brighter than the subjects.
So while we're manipulating the BG, and to make a point, how about this (full disclosure): I have now removed the extra elephant haunch, selected the white sky areas, and pasted into the selection a landscape image I took 30 minutes later near this same spot. I adjusted the color balance of the pasted landscape to approximate that of the elephant image and then brightened it and reduced its contrast to make it subordinate to the subject image. I then reversed the selection and increased the elephant contrast only slightly so as not to make the contrast or sharpness too hard for the mood of the image. (I think some softness here is desirable.)
Given that, we now have a perhaps more pleasant, but synthetic image, since it now shows the subjects with a background that for them did not exist. Well, did a blue sky exist? The deleted third elephant certainly did. Even when we take the image "straight out of the camera", the image has already been manipulated -- color balance, brightness, sharpness, saturation -- all sorts of preset parameters that can cause the image to differ from the scene originally witnessed in the field. Is the goal to document, or to create an artistically pleasing piece? It's a great day when we get both into the same frame!
Hey Craig, I really love the final repost, the photo illustration. The BKGR makes it. For the ORIG capture, it would have been great to have moved the van forward and to the right to better parallel the two animals. Good job with the filtered light. I would lose the fore and aft bright grasses.
Thanks to all above for their great work.
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Thank you Artie, and Fabs, you made my day! This elephant group was great to watch. Only three minutes later, here's what these same "little" rascals were up to.
Last edited by Craig Markham; 02-25-2009 at 09:54 PM.
Sweet and YAW. The image above could also use blacker blacks and neutrals and a bit more contrast.
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,