Warts and all

[Hilary Hann]

Could be warts, may be ticks!

Anyway, I needed a break and felt image posting withdrawal so made the radical step of throwing out all my previous processing steps to start afresh using information from various seminars I've been to. Digging up tutorial notes and thinking "why had I forgotten that?" I haven't bumped the contrast up too much, trying to keep tonal range and detail instead.

In the spirit of a new start I'm going back through old files and may re-post some if I think I can do better. Hope that's ok. This isn't a re-post, but I shot it last year.

7D; 300mm + 1.4 TC; ISO200; 1/250 @ f11

Interested in what you think on the IQ of this one. BTW, had as much fun photographing with my iphone last night as I've had in a long time. Might trade the Canon gear in!

[Marc Mol]

Nice use of DOF here Hilary, the strong diagonal in the mane and vertical lines and subsequent detail in the skin folds really enhances,
one of your best IMO.

[Arthur Morris]

IQ looks fine and I like the COMP. Ticks for sure, I think :). Though I am not usually a big fan of dof I do think that this one needs to be sharp all the way to work.

[Steve Kaluski]

I like the concept Hilary, but cannot pass comment on the IQ as I think you need to see the RAW.

Might look at apply some Highlight?Shadow, but a hint, open some more in levels and add another round of USM, perhaps selective?

There is an alternative perhaps I will send you, then you can play.

Nice to see you back posting.
Steve

[Hilary Hann]

Thanks Marc, Artie and Steve.

Artie, I wondered about the dof and in hind sight wish I'd taken several images with varying apertures to get different dof possibilities.

Steve, not hooked up to my email at the moment but will be interested to see what you suggest. I am losing any affection I may have had for the highlight/shadow tool as it has caused me lots of problems, but prepared to try again. I was careful with this image not to over sharpen as I don't like the crunchy, over sharpened look. I thought I had it just right, but will try another round of USM on the eye perhaps which may be enough.

[Arthur Morris]

YAW. I am not sure if even f/32 would have been enough to cover the mane...

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Hilary, I agree, I only use it occasionally and sparingly, as it 'can be' quiet aggressive.

As I have said many times, more in-camera, less PP, just my take.

[peter delaney]

Hi Hilary

like your thinking with this image, I thought by converting it too black and white would give it a bit more punch. And by increasing the contrast between the stripes gives an illusion of sharpness

[Dumay de Boulle]

I like the idea. I would sharpen a touch more for my taste. Also try selective color by blackening blacks and whitening whites. Appealing image and love the amber/brown in the eye!

[Grant Atkinson]

Like this angle a lot Hilary, and I agree with Dumay the amber eye is great. I do prefer the colour version..How much of a crop is it? I would be tempted to crop a little especially from left side, and some on top and bottom to balance aspect ratio, in order to take a way a little of the OOF part of the zebra, for me that emphasizes those amazing patterns on the face that lead to the eye. Just my thoughts.
cheers
Grant

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Excellent idea Hilary, work nicely for me, prefer the colour version but the B&W version also works nicely TFS

[Robert Amoruso]

On the DOF question:

at f/22 and the 420mm you shot at and assuming 20 feet distance, DOF was .55 ft.

if you removed the 1.4x TC and did not change you position, DOF goes to 1.11 ft. Then you could crop to your final image. 7D and 18 MP would allow that.

Just something to think about. I agree, acceptable sharpness throughout would have been nice.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hilary - great idea and I think you pulled it off well. Yes, greater dof might have worked better but this still works for me. I prefer the color version for the amber eye.

TFS,
Rachel

[Hilary Hann]

Thank you for the responses. Appreciate the repost Peter, and the image does lend itself towards b&w, however I was giving myself a mini project in trying to keep tonal range when the temptation (for me) is to increase contrast to the point of losing the intermediate tones.

To come clean, I particularly wanted to use the oof neck to draw the eye to the eye, so to speak. The neck is incidental and perhaps would be better if it was more oof. I understand that this approach may not be to everyone's taste, but you don't want to die wondering!

Dumay, looking at my OP I agree that I could increase sharpening.

Grant, this is almost full frame, I have a little more of the face (the zebra's lhs) and a fraction more of the neck. Your crop thoughts were one of the options I looked at, but I just couldn't get the eye to sit in the right position in the frame. The IQ wasn't a problem with the crop, something to do with the ISO on this one.

Thanks Vivaldo.

Robert, appreciate the information on the dof and I'll keep that in mind for my next trip. Certainly, cropping wasn't going to be much of an issue in this light and with the zebra quite comfortable.

Thank you Rachel.

[Morkel Erasmus]

I'm late to this one Hilary - sorry about that
Certainly a popular kind of image and I think you did well.

I like playing with these in B&W and dig what Peter did, but somehow for me the amber in the eye needs to be there. I don't know if leaving the amber coloration in and still doing some monochrome toning on the rest of the image (similar to what Brendon did previously with his leopard) will look 'corny' or will work? Something to try?

I don't mind the OOF neck, though having it slightly more OOF would have been nice too. I would have loved the entire front of the face sharp as an alternative, but as posted it works for me too (similar to my B&W buffalo posted some time ago where only the plane with the eye was in focus).

Overall IQ seems good! I am looking forward to seeing you dig up and rework some other 'archival' files...

PS: and good to hear you had fun, even with the iPhone...if we lose the element of having fun in our photography we lose much of what makes it so special...

[Hilary Hann]

Thanks Morkel. Interesting suggestion and although I loved the leopard of Brendan's not sure I could pull it off.

Thinking of posting one of my iPhone images in ootb.

Thanks again everyone.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Interesting suggestion and although I loved the leopard of Brendan's not sure I could pull it off.

Thinking of posting one of my iPhone images in ootb.

Always worth a try?

[Steve Canuel]

Where's an oxpecker when you need one?! I like the OP as posted.

[Hilary Hann]

Hahaha Steve, no way I'd have got it in focus given my previous oxpecker postings!