Elk

[Rachel Hollander]

Taken just off the Bow Valley Parkway in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada.

Canon 7D
100-400 @ 100mm
1/400
f4.5
ISO 400
HH, slight crop from top and right, cloned out a signpost, toned down highlights with Robert's method and sharpened in CS5.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Steve Canuel]

Like the pose here Rachel and the habitat looks lush and refreshing. The framing of the elk between the two purple flowers is nice and provides a nice line. Based on the trees in the BG, I think this could use just a tiny bit of CCW rotation. I also think you could pull a little more detail on the shadowed face and still keep it realistic.

[Stan Cunningham]

Nice job, I agree with Steve on the lightening of the face. I'd try with a quick mask and levels or a slight exposure. Worth a try. I'm doing that a lot on the dark bear faces and a good percentage still look realistic. But I'm no pro like a lot of the folks here.
Stan

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, I like the composition of this and the wild flowers add a nice touch/splash of colour. I also like the HA, however if it were me I would have tried to go for a low angle, but obviously you have to be careful with these male Elks. You could just try opening up the head a little in exposure (layer mask), but am away, so can't suggest too much as I am on the MBP and it's not calibrated. However one thing I do see is it does need some more USM just to tighten it up, just looks a bit soft IMHO.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Steve, Steve and Stan for the comments and suggestions. Here's a repost that hopefully takes care of the issues.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[jack williamson]

Very good on the repost Rachel. It looks like he has plenty of lush vegetation to dine on.

Jack

[Hilary Hann]

Repost is very nice Rachel, well done. Love the flowers, like a garden of eden.

[Jamie Douglas]

Very nice Rachel and the wildflowers add a lot to the scene. You caught the woodland feel.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Jack, Hilary and Jamie.

[DanWalters]

Very nice! Like the repost with a little more detail around the eye.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Dan