Daga Boy

[Jeni Williams]

Daga Boy - referring to old bull Buffaloes. Usually found solitary or in small groups of 2 or 3.
We saw this one crossing the road in the Kruger National Park; he then stood for a couple of minutes amongst the Mopani trees. Even though the light angle is not ideal and this was the clearest position I could get to. I liked the way he stood out against the winter foliage of the Mopani trees with his companion, the Red-billed Oxpecker on board. I only managed to get 2 shots before he moved off

Canon EOS1D Mk 11
focal length: 600mm
F/8
Exp - 0.33
ISO 400
exp. time: 1/160sec
AV Priority
Bean bag

[Vivek Khanzode]

Jeni

I like the symmetry, but do not like the back light. It seems the lighting was poor and the details are not visible. Would love to see these in person one day.

Thanks for sharing.

-- Vivek

[Harshad Barve]

I loved symmetry here and looks like huge fellow
agreed with Vivek on lighting & details
TFS

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Agree with the above comments. There is lack of detail because of the back lighting. Very majestic animal and thanks for posting.

[David Fletcher]

Agree with comments made, and wonder whether a nr filter was used on the whole subject rather than bg. Thought this was interesting so did some work as a smart sharpen helped reveal more detail. Love those winter colors in the veld.

1. magic wand selection on bg. & inversed.
2. create new layer via copy: (in case needed to reduce opacity).
3. Smart Sharpen. 100% 1.0 & lens blur). seemed to take it ok.
4. lightened eyes a tad.
flattened.

[Harshad Barve]

Repost looks far better :)
TFS

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Jeni,
Repost is improvement...but even a little tight for me......these are tough in BL situations.

[Steve Canuel]

I don't mind the tightness of the composition and I like the BG colors. David did an excellent job with the repost to bring out a little more detail.

[Jeni Williams]

Thanks all. David's repost does look better. I didn't use NR at all but did a slight gaussian blur on the bg. I think I got too carried away with trying to emphasize the size of the bosse and horns on this old bull - hence the tight frame. I definitey would have preferred having only the head and so didn't pay too much attention to the detail on the neck. Of course ideally, I should have used a fill flash but no time and no better beamer! Appreciate all the advice.:)

[Ken Watkins]

Great advice from Dave, the repost shows what PS is capable of if you can ever figure out all of the multiple adjustments that can be done. F
inding out about these "manipulations" are all about is what this sight does! No need to buy a book DVD or video, just good and helpful advice for what in reality can only be described as FREE.