Early morning chase

[Morkel Erasmus]

Well, I can't seem to find any proof of me posting this before, so if I have, my humble apologies :)

This is also kind-of an experiment. I loved the light playing on the grass and on the dust being kicked up by these 2 blue wildebeest in the Kalahari...and underexposed in camera to enhance that. I also played a lot with contrast, texture and structure during B&W conversion to get to this.

Cropped to pano from top and bottom, a little from LHS too.

Would love your honest feedback - does it work for you and why? or why not?

[Sid Garige]

Morkel,

Like the idea. May be placing the subject int he middle of the frame?

-Sid

[Pieter de Waal]

Nice creative thinking and execution Morkel. The textures , action and dust work well together. I like the the pano crop and might consider a small crop from our right to have the subjects less centred.

[Hilary Hann]

Morkel, it has the graphic feel of your BBC WPY image from last year to some extent. I think it is successful on several counts, strong lighting, strong graphics, interesting animal activity, nice soft dust to contrast with the high contrast of the grasses … but the one thing which I don’t think it has is balance. It feels top heavy to me with all the action (animals and dust) in the top half which I don’t usually like as much as having the action weighted to the bottom. That is probably a personal feeling and others may not agree.
I find that cropping to just below the start of the bottom light grasses still gives the graphic design you are looking at, but changes the balance. If I cropped from the rhs, as has been suggested by Pieter, I would definitely be keeping the ‘point’ of the dust in as it gives a nice ‘v’ shape to the image. If as you say, you have cropped from top and bottom and from the lhs, I would be tempted to leave the lhs uncropped, take some of the rhs up to the end of the dust, leave a bit at the top (not knowing whether it is interesting graphically or not … may not match the rest of the image) and take a bit more off the bottom.

But I do like these sorts of images so it works for me.

[Steve Kaluski]

A more 'pano' crop I think would work better, with less FG here Morkel, I do like the placement, with the dust tailing off into the scrub on the RHS. Personally I am just not sure about the solid areas, to me, it's has more of an 'abstract' look/feel IMHO?

If you are asking me, 'Does this work?' then sort off, as it depicts an action/scene, just not sure if the depth of treatment is right, or it needs some more tweaking, it's all so subjective. Have you posted this elsewhere on the Forum for any alternative thinking?

TFS
Steve

PS Be interested to see Hilary's thoughts.

[Steve Kaluski]

PS Be interested to see Hilary's thoughts.

You beat me to it Hilary, got interrupted whilst typing my reply, interesting thoughts.

[Hilary Hann]

Yes Steve, our posts crossed, you must type faster!

Morkel, I think also, with these kinds of images they appeal strongly to a certain demographic and sometimes you have to go with your gut feeling. Steve is probably right in seeing it in abstract terms but that is possibly one of its strengths, but also will increase the likelihood that it polarises opinions somewhat.

[Ofer Levy]

I like the action and composition. Since the animal on the left is running away from the camera and the other is probably following it - I see no problem with the composition being top heavy. I am not sure however about the processing - maybe a bit too dark in some areas.

[Dumay de Boulle]

I like the idea Morkel. It has a great feel and mood. The dust really adds. I would agree with less foreground and bit off on the left. But for me a touch more space on top will work...But its all personal and subjective

[Jay Gould]

I too would go pano and remove some of the foreground.

While I like the right grass, at the same time since it is brighter than the animals, it holds your eye and detracts from the main subject. I would crop just short of the dark grass.

Like the image, Mate.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Morkel,
The foreground is more prominent. Cropping it a bit will be better. I think more definition in the wildebeests would be better.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Robert Amoruso]

Morkel,

I agree that a crop from the bottom gets this going in the right direction to simplify the image.

[Rachel Hollander]

Morkel - I agree with the others on a crop from the bottom. I find this interesting in a good way and like the flying dust and sense of action. The one thing I find myself wishing for is a little more detail/light on the wildie on the right, probably because it is facing the viewer and I feel like more can come out there.

TFS,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks so much for viewing and commenting and making suggestions everyone

here is a repost with a crop from the bottom and the blacks opened up a tad...would love your feedback now?