Chinkara or Indian Gazelle are shy creatures found in grassland and desert areas of South Asia. They can go without water for long time. Generally they cover their need for water through plants and dew.
Shot in Ranthambhore National Park, Rajasthan.
Shot with 20D + 100-400L
320mm@f/5.6, 1/800 sec, EC: -0.33 ev (-1/3)
What I did not like:
1. Shadow of the head falling on the back.
2. Left side of the face is dark
What I liked about the shot:
1. I could get very close to this shy beauty
2. I could get it to pose for a while (5 minutes or so)
As always I would look forward to your expert comments and critic to improve myself.
Like your self critique. Hopefully, you will have a bag load of variations, given it gave you so long. As shown, it needs sharpening and am sure it'll crisp up nicely. The shadow of the head doesn't bother me, but would have liked the face better lit rather than the body.
Kiran did a great job with the processing tweaks (thanks Kiran for posting the details so precisely). As you mentioned that he posed for you 5 minutes I have some compositional suggestions for you.
1) A bit more room on the bottom. As you can see some of the foot is covered in the grass. You have to be careful to provide enough room to allow the covered base of the feet (virtual feet) to have a firm grounding.
2) A bit more room behind - it appears cramped.
3) Make image of animal after it moved forward to eliminate bush sticking up out of the back. Or move around to change the BG relative to the animal.
Good job getting gazelle in a complimentary habitat and relatively clear of FG obstructions.
Thanks Kiran for posting the precise details of the processing. It is really helpful for someone not so familiar with it. I got to get me some material on PS. I like your Gazelle better than the original :-)
Robert, points taken. I think I never stopped and actively thought about composition a lot. I need to be more careful of the composition.
David, I have a few variations. As this was a cold morning, the gazelle was kind of slow. Once he stretched a bit, he was off like an arrow. I will try and find something that has more even light.
Thanks for the kind words everyone. I learn something new here everyday.
Glad you liked the changes I made to the chinkara.
Robert, I've been reading the bulletin #292 and was blown away by the bear shots that you have posted. They are soooo amazing that I feel like I should join you some day to learn and do such stuff. Congratulations !!