Dik Dik

[Lorant Voros]

One early morning around sunrise we saw a dik dik couple at Waterberg Plato hiding in the shadows of the bushes. Light situation wasn't ideal, but it was a pleasure to see these little fellows. Here is the female looking ahead. Comments are welcome.

7D
100-400mm
ISO1600
f: 5.6
1/640
Handheld

[Tom Graham]

V nice Dik Dik portrait, nice background isolation. I'd like to see a little more of something, contrast? To give image a bit more pop?
Tom

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Beautiful shy creatures . They do prefer the shade . Agree with Tom on a bit of contrast to get a bit of pop here .

[Tom Graham]

If you take original image into Photoshop, and look at it using "Levels", the histogram is this -

This shows a rather compressed range of contrast. Nothing towards the left nor right edges.

If the left slider is moved to 27 and the right slider to 159, you have this -


Tom

[Tommy Rodgers]

"What a big eyes you have my dear." NIce capture. These little guys are quite and usually well camouflaged. I agree with a little more pop in levels. Thanks for sharing.

Tom: thanks for showing the adjustment. That type of counseling really helps those of us struggling with Photoshop.

[Robert Amoruso]

In addition to the Levels adjustment mentioned, this image needs the luminance lifted in Levels using the midtone slider and then contrast added using a curves adjustment.

[Tom Graham]

Agree with Robert about the adjustment(s).
Does also need "gamma" raised (midtone slider). And using the right "Levels" slider often results in blown out lighter areas. "Curves" is better.
But if you take an image into Levels it will give you a quick indicator of contrast. Of course on a early-morning-foggy-tree-in-the-park image the light/contrast will be compressed. While same tree but in sunshine shot will have most contrast. This image is in the shade, sunrise, so artistic choice as to how much contrast and brightness.
Tom

[Morkel Erasmus]

Lovely portrait here Lorant...an antelope I have not seen with my eyes yet!

I agree that the image just needs a slight lift - yet still try and preserve the "feel" of being in the shade in early morning. Tom's repost has too much blue and contrast for me...
Here's my take.

I didn't pull the levels sliders from left and right as they are on the edges of available data in your image. I did slide the midtone slider to 1.1, and then applied USM (20%,10px) for some contrast.

[Lorant Voros]

Lovely portrait here Lorant...an antelope I have not seen with my eyes yet!

I agree that the image just needs a slight lift - yet still try and preserve the "feel" of being in the shade in early morning. Tom's repost has too much blue and contrast for me...
Here's my take.

I didn't pull the levels sliders from left and right as they are on the edges of available data in your image. I did slide the midtone slider to 1.1, and then applied USM (20%,10px) for some contrast.

Thanks everyone for the comments and thanks guys for the repost. Morkel, I think this is the best take here. I also think the left and right sliders are on the edge of the information, so should not be modified. The added contrast makes the image better imo.

Lorant