Charles - Silverback of the Umubano gorilla family - Virunga, Rwanda - Sept 2008

[Claude Ostfeld]

Nikon D300
Angenieux 26-70 mm F2.6 AF
35mm
1/320
f/9.0
ISO 1600
-2/3 EV
No Flash
Program AE
Date and Time (Original) 2008:09:18 09:43:02

There are about 750 Mountain Gorillas living in the Parc National des Volcans which is located on the upper slopes of the Virunga chain of volcanos (an area that sprawls on the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo). Gorillas are seen as a pest to be eliminated by local farmers, charcoal producers, Congo guerrilla troops and members of the "Congolese regular army" or as booty by poachers. Luckily for the surviving Gorillas Rwanda, with its tormented recent (and not so recent) past, has identified visits to view the Gorillas as a blossoming business and because of that their half (about 350 individuals) of the current population is safe for now as protected by the heavily armed Rwanda army. The future is anybody's guess. As long as Rwanda and the Ruhengeri province collect more than US$30 million every year, there is hope for peaceful survival of the mountain gorillas. When you look at these beings in the eyes you relaize that you have more that "just an animal" in front of you. Their DNA is 97% identical to ours and watching them reveals their behavior to be very "human". This is a picture of Charles, the dominant silverback (male) of the Umubano gorilla family. In Rwanda, every gorilla gets identified by a name during a yearly naming ceremony (in June) that sees the local population (in the province of Ruhengeri a.k.a. Musanze) and the rangers as participants. The Umubano family is made up of 7 members: Charles, a younger male (called a blackback), 2 females, 2 juveniles and an infant (in Sept. 2008). They only live in the thick forests on the upper slopes of Mount Visoke which is part of the Virunga Volcanic Area. The Karisoke Gorilla Research Center in Rwanda was founded by Dian Fossey in 1967. The name stems from the names of Mount Karisimbi and Mount Visoke.

[Claude Ostfeld]

here is the photo :-)

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Claude and welcome, this Silverback does have a rather engaging feel looking directly into camera, however I think there are few things you can do to perhaps improve it.

Firstly I might suggest a tighter crop and perhaps go for a portrait format to enhance that stare, giving more impact, as for me, the foliage background doesn't really add anything. I'm not sure what the green cast is around the chin and the eyes look two different colours, the right hand one as you see it, looks right, a warm chestnut, but the left again looks slightly green, plus the fur around the top of the head has hints of magenta coming through too?

In this instance perhaps converting to a B/W format might avoid these points and give greater impact and strengthen to your image and concept. I trust this might help.

TFS
Steve

[Claude Ostfeld]

Hi Steve,
Thanks. I really like the fact that I can benefit from constructive criticism to improve my skills. Thank you. :)

I've cropped more and made the image B/W as you suggested.

Gorillas don't have 100% black or blue-black fur. When you get as close as I was, you discover that many gorillas have a brown or reddish or almost magenta patch or tuft of fur either on the top of their head or on their forehead much as Charlie Chaplin had a patch of white hair when he was in his 50's. I think you are right that in the picture the magenta-ish hairs and the dull green foilage don't serve any great purpose and do distract from that incredibly eloquent gaze.

The park rules state that you are supposed to stay at about 20 feet from them but that doesn't prevent them from coming close to you to check you out. I have around 40 images all taken at about the same time. Gorillas are almost always deep in the forest and light quality is the greatest issue to cope with. DSLR's are much better than film because you can verify whether your pictures are good or not while you are still there. You only have 60 very short minutes to take as many pictures as you can.

[Ken Watkins]

Hi Claude,

Are the colour artefacts in your RAW image, or were they introduced in processing?
If they are there then clearly converting to B&W will remove them.

Would prefer a less tight crop than your repost.

[Hilary Hann]

An impressive face Claude and I like the b&w treatment. Personally, I think that you have come in a little too close. Leaving some room for the top of the head and giving a vertical treatment as opposed to square would suit him well.

The colour artifacts on the colour image are interesting. If you look in the background some of the leaves have taken a magenta cast as well. Is there a possibility of refractive glare off the lens? Anyway, the b&w fixes that and leaves a strong image.

And welcome. :)

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Claude

Perhaps the square crop and a straight conversion to B/W has lost a little. Yes, I do think the B/W does offer an opportunity to lose the artifacts within the original, but for me the B/W looks flat. There are ways to achieve a rich, punchy B/W which I think would work better, but that would require sadly time & the original, therefore I might suggest this. Retaining the richness you had in the OP, but using a portrait crop which for me, conveys the original properties but has a bit more emphasis?

When posting on any website you must ensure you convert from RGB to sRGB, I thing your image has another Source space?

Look forward to seeing you post more.

Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Claude - welcome. Thanks for the info about the Rwanda Mountain Gorillas. I like the eyes and the detail in the face which Steve's repost has really helped bring out. I also like the b&w but agree with the others that a vertical crop would work better.

TFS,
Rachel

[Hilary Hann]

Repost looks pretty good to me. The vertical crop really works for this image which is very strong.

[Claude Ostfeld]

I have tried my hand at post processing to try and reproduce the realistic shine of Charles face. I'll post some other images as I realize that for now I can't exceed the results that Steve achieved using a low resolution JPG. I shoot raw and convert to jpg for posting but my knowledge of LR is still too primitive.

Lesson noted and much appreciated. :)

Claude

[Harshad Barve]

impressive image here
TFS