I had the opportunity to travel to Rwanda and see the Mountain Gorillas. Following Joe and Mary Ann McDonald's reviews, I rented the Sigma 120-300 f/2.8, which worked well.
I think going to Rwanda and actually seeing these beauties in person would be a head twirling experience all in itself. I would have to cut you a lot of slack just on that account. I just love the pose and the eyes here. That in itself makes this a very nice image. My nerves would have me all shook up just to be there. And these guys do not live in a sterile environment, so leaves and debris would be an issue to consider. How in the world do you take enough images to get the perfect image in those conditions.
The only reason I say that is the slight oof green up front lower left. But seeing as I do not have mountain gorillas from Rwanda, and wild ones at that, a big thumbs up! Please post more of these if you have them.
You're right about the OOF green. It is hard to avoid when shooting -- we all (gorillas and humans) are in pretty dense bamboo/foliage, so there are often leaves in the way, and usually not much maneuvering room to change your shooting angle. And of course you're not allowed to approach the gorillas to break off a leaf. So there wasn't much i could do to move the leaf out of the frame. Now is there some way to lessen the effect in post-production? I don't want to try to clone out the leaves themselves, but is there a way to desaturate the green haze around them, and somehow put detail back into the fur?
Peter - I'd leave it alone. It's a wild gorilla in the jungle, there's supposed to be leaves all around. I actually like the touch of green down there.
If Grady hadn't mentioned the green I would have never noticed it. My eyes were on his the duration I viewed this. Well done especially considering the dense vegetation they live in.
Very nice! The eyes make this image for me and overall details in the face. The out of focus vegetation doesn't bother me. If I were to try anything it would be to tone down the lighter fur at the top of the frame but very nice as presented.
I like it as presented. It is really cute. The foliage makes it real. Interesting that the little guy has an eye that turns out - the animal's left eye.
Peter..trip of a lifetime I imagine, photo as presented shows the gorillas environment, green leaves in front minor, eye contact to die for....he knows your there taking his picture, but couldn't care less....someday I hope do see them....
I reposted the image, with just some minor PS work, left the leaves in top right and bottom left to balance out. This was done in no time, with care you could remove what you want or leave it.
Either way it's a lovely photo that few of us will ever get the chance to take....
Peter I love the eye contact and the totally relaxed attitude of this gorilla. Like the others, I can't imagine how thrilling it was to be them with them. Congratulations.
For your information I find that sometimes careful use of the burn tool in Photoshop can decrease the impact of bright OOF foreground objects like leaves. I've used this technique successfully in some images that I've created.
Mountain Gorilla, Rwanda
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