Grumpy Cape Buff

[Rachel Hollander]

Haven't seen a lot of these posted. Taken in the Timbavati Game Reserve, South Africa. The light was already somewhat harsh.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 285mm
1/250
f5.6
ISO 200
HH from safari vehicle. slight crop to move buff off center, slight surface blur applied to bg

C&C welcome and appreciated.

Thanks,
Rachel

[Dumay de Boulle]

Great pose...Im sure you have heard the saying "Buffalo look at you like you owe them money"...Thats what this reminds me of. Light is harsh but well handled!

[Robert Amoruso]

Rachel,

I agree with the Grumpy moniker and like Dumay's description of him.

Full light on the face makes the high-contrast forgiving. One thing you can try is a reverse s-curve to lower the contrast some. I like the bright BG.

[Grace Scalzo]

Fascinating. He looks like he's got stories to tell. I keep staring at the horns, there is alot of interesting detail that is getting a bit lost by the brightness. I would experiment with the processing and see if it's possible to bring it out more.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

That fellow has some character. Did you blur just around the horns? That dark patch attracts attention. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Pieter de Waal]

Nice head shot with that typical Buff expression. Love the detail on the nose and ears. Good suggestions made re the light conditions.

[Morkel Erasmus]

some good suggestions above

Dumay - love your description, spot on

Rachel, where exactly did you blur? It looks quite naturally done, hence my asking

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments. Here's a repost applying a slight reverse S curves adjustment. Please let me know what you think. I'm never sure if it is enough.

Sabyasachi - I think the dark area behind the horns may be part of another buffalo directly behind him but I'm not sure.

Morkel - Most of the blur was in camera but it was still a bit of a busy bg so I selected the buff, inverted the selection and then applied a slight surface blur. Glad you think it still looks natural.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Certainly one mean beast this Rachel and weighing in at over two tons these lone bulls can be incredibly aggressive and hostile.

Personally I prefer the OP, although viewing on the laptop, I think it looks almost spot on with detail and colour, but might review when I am back next week. Personally getting the OOF BG right in camera is the way to go, additional blurring I feel can look false and also makes you lazy a hint of NR I think would do the trick on the OP IMHO. Ever thought of going B/W on this or even a Duo tone?

Well done, how are you doing with CS5?

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Steve. Having fun experimenting with CS5 and getting the basics down.