namibian black rhino leaves its protected cover of the bush to quench its thirst at a nearby water hole.
D3 600mm lens, wimberly head on car bracket... iso 2500 1/640 f4
namibian black rhino leaves its protected cover of the bush to quench its thirst at a nearby water hole.
D3 600mm lens, wimberly head on car bracket... iso 2500 1/640 f4
A superb conversion, love the setting, FG birds add nicely IMO and not to mention low angle.... Fantastic capture Peter.
Great low pov and I love the trotting pose of the calf. The rhinos seem kind of light to me but maybe it's the Namibian dust. Guinea fowl add to the image.
TFS,
Rachel
I may be a lone voice but I don't find the oof birds add to the composition of the image here. I like the low point of view and the way the rhinos are moving across the image but perhaps positioning them both more to the right rather than central would suit my tastes more. I also find it a little flatter than some of your recent b&w postings, but it all comes down to personal taste at the end of the day. Wonderful sighting to have.
Hi Peter,
I feel the four birds in the foreground strengthen the image. Looks like the foreground birds have been "well placed". :-)
The low perspective is also nice. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi
Have to say I like the birds iin this one. The sharpness of the rhinos stands out against that all around them including the birds. The darkness of the birds compliments the darkness of the trees above, framing the animals in a sort of full circle. Great "twin" trotting capture.

I'll vote with Hilary on the birds, they distract/confuse me.
Tom
Hello guys and gals..
Really nice to get lots of different opinions... Being old school and having shot B&W film and spent time in darkroom for many years this genre is very close to my heart and I probably prefer it more than colour to communicate my images to the viewer...
It is a really difficult medium to get right and even more so in this genre of wildlife... so its something I will continue to experiment with ... I dont work to any set formula ,depends on my mood and the image on how I will convert it... but I do find I use PS for 90% of my conversions rather than NIK.. prefer having more control.
The image itself was "low contrast with a lot of mid tones , So I decided to make the BKG darker and the Rhinos lighter so they stood out more, therefore less need for a lot of sharpening..
With regard to the composition, the other scenario was to clone out GF and crop RHS.. but loosing the dark tree trunk .. seem to unbalance the image..
The GF are part of the scene , but if I thought they were confusing(lol)/detracting I would not hesitate to remove them. The 4 are basically equi distance across the image.. for me adds an other dimension plus another dark layer(Hazel) to balance with BKG.
hope that was not to long winded...
Again thanks to each of you for your honest opinion... I really appreciate and welcome it.
Man this is outstanding...Love the dust and the shooting angle is great. The OOF Guinea fowls are great. Fantatsic conversion
Nice image. I do prefer to see the full colours though. I am with Hilary regarding the GF but my reason is a bit different. Because the birds are much closer to you than the rhinos they look un-naturally big compared with the rhinos. This together with the linclusion of so much of the trees make these huge beasts look rather small....![]()
Hi Peter, a little late, but...
I think the choice of lighter/darker dimensions works well and it does give a feeling of layers within the image. The POV as expected is spot on. However, the GF, because they are so well placed I do find them rather distracting, especially as they are almost at eye level with the rhinos, but I see your point, sadly i still find them intruding on the image. I just wonder if there is a happy compromise and that is to perhaps have a select cull and see if that may work?
Darkrooms, burning/blending ah you are showing you age here Peter, but you cannot beat the 'old' process. Personally I think a blend of NIK & PS can work the best, however I am still trying to achieve that though.
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Peter, I like the low angle and looking at it here in higher res the B&W works better for me, perhaps it has grown on me :)
I don't mind the guinea fowl, though it would have a "cleaner" look without them, but as you mentioned you would lose some tonal dynamics if that were to be done. I think I would still like to see a pano crop to lose the patch of sky? And would love to see the colours this was converted from just for interest' sake?![]()
Thanks Guys....
Ofer...... D o f and compression of long lens.. "the giant GF and little rhino" .. will be my new title... lol
Steve , better late than never...steve will play around with culling GF ... old school!! rocks!
Morkel... pano crop.. just loose s that sense of place and layering.. I am not always a huge fan of the "cleaner" look ...can be a little sterile sometimes...
thanks guys for your feedback apprciated![]()
Though I am commenting on B & W version later , I will prefer color one
TFS