This is one o the Kruger Bulls they brought into the Pilanesburg National Park to bring young Elephant bulls with prolonged musth cycles ( Levels of heightened testosterone, meaning they are ready to mate) under control. As you can see in this image, one of the signs of musth is the leaking temporal gland. These young bulls were mounting Rhino's and killing them by breaking there backs. Once these Elephants were brought in this problem was brought under control.
This guy known as Amarula is about 50-55 years old, we still have a few of the originals left roaming around the reserve.
This is my first effort at B&W conversion...So advice would be appreciated. Had to save the image at 58 Quality to make BPN file limit and hope it didnt effect the IQ too much.
Canon 7D
Canon 100-400 L IS @100mm
AV f8
TV 1/800
ISO 800
Evaluative metering
AWB
RAW file processed in CS5 iMac
I like it Dumay. Nice texture to the bull. Comp looks good. B/W conversions seem to be very personal as to the amount of contrast and or toning, You have done a nice job on your first attempt. Well done.
TFS
Todd
nice classic shot here, I like the typical Pilanesberg mountain in the BG
conversion worked well! for my tastes, I would probably do a hint of dodging and burning (dodge the highlights and burn the shadows at about 7%) do increase the tonal range, making the whites whiter and blacks blacker
This is a very handsome bull and I like the conversion work. He appears to be a left handed tusker, like mine in the Mara. I would play with the contrast as well, but in my experience sometimes when posting, more delicate details and contrasts do get lost so probably only you can evaluate how it appears on BPN compared to your screen or print. Easy to get heavy handed with b&w and toning (as I know to my cost).
I've never been to Pilanesburg but I like the hilly background and the way you've composed your image.
The contrast boost is the right direction. And you have a black black under the legs. I downloaded the repost and the original and both need a levels adjusted just to where the highlights in the grass are getting clipped. Setting a white point this way will make this image POP.
Bull Elephant ( Amarula)
Reply With Quote
