Taken during our recent trip to the Kruger National Park in South Africa.
This young impala male was just looooving the attention that it got from the red-billed oxpecker as it worked away at fleas, ticks and debris stuck in the impala's coat and around the horns. He even closed his eyes out of pure glee.
I took many shots of this interaction but this was one of the only shots where there wasn't another impala behind this one.
Your C+C most welcome!
Techs:
Canon 1000D with 100-400mm L IS USM @ 300mm
f7.1 @ 1/1600 SS @ ISO 400
Great capture of a pure, symbiotic relationship!! Love it. As with Trey, definitely clone out the other Impala. Maybe add a little catch light in his eyes.
Here is my new version - cloned out the butt, toned down some borderline whites on the impala's face, added a little black in selective colour and ran a cooling filter...
Peter - thanks for the repost it looks better. I have thus far only had success with the clone stamp tool, somehow I can't get the pattern stamp tool to select a pattern from the image. your technique of quick-masking, is that basically just using the lasso tool to select a similar-sized area on the right and copy it, move it over the target area? would love some assistance in using this in the future.
Morkel,
Good one. I liked your idea. I think you should try more on this concept. Moving a bit to the left would have given you a clear background. A bit more space at the top and less at the bottom would have been even better. Thanks for sharing.
The final repost looks the best of all, but now I would add a little more canvas to the left of the frame so as to move the impala more to the right. :)
Now that's a look of contentment! Great vibrancy in color and detail. I prefer the removed rear end version but the original post was also fine with me.
Bro
This is unbelieavable interaction and the image improved vastly as I scrolled down the replies. Mate, your creation is very aesthetically pleasing and the vertical framing really makes the presentation powerful. Colors look great and I am OK with or without the filter application really. Congrats! :)
Hope you are going to frame this one! Would make great cards or postcards. Congratulations on one of the best "picture telling the story" images that I have seen with wildlife. And a added bonus for me, was the great photoshop lesson.
That's the spot!!
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