I was extremely lucky to spend half a day with a pack of wild dogs.
This image was taken in November 2009 when I went to Botswana on a 14 day camping trip. It was a once in a lifetime experience as I don't think I will have the courage to do it again.
Cheers
VPN
Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Nikon 200-400 f4 with 1.2 converter
Aperture: f 7.1
Shutters: 1/500
Speed: ISO 800
Hi VPN,
This is another beauty. I love the stalking pose and the vibrant colors in the BG. I would crop a bit from the right to make the wild dog a bit off center for better composition. If you can ,I would also open up the blacks so that the inne r ears can be better seen. If you have LR3 you can add a bit of fill light,
Gail
Hi Gail,
Thank you for your comments and suggestions on how to improve the image. I use photoshop CS 5 and work on a 13" Mac Pro. I should join a workshop to improve my PP skills
Cheers
VPN
I like the stance and having a slight incline adds to the setting, but agree with Gail that it is a tad too central, so I would suggest cropping off from the LHS as I like the flattish area moving to the left then creating the incline.
Regarding the image, I do find it too saturated overal, plus a little adjustment in Levels (rh slider move the pointer left to the beginning of the base line say 245 (?) figure not exact) and some local Highlight/Shadow would be enough on the face if you have not got LR. Or if you have, some fine adjustments with the cursor would be ideal' as Fill light will apply to the overall image which is not required. Finally I would also look at the tree/branch (?) in the BKG and clone it, as it is slightly distracting from an excellent image.
This is not ideal as it is working from the web image, but posted to illustrate/as a guide to my points above and still needs refining etc, but that needs to be done with either the RAW or Hi Res tiff file.
Another good image, just needs refining. Might suggest calibrating your monitor which might be throwing things out a little, as they do tend to drift and need constant calibrating, at least once a month.
Hope this helps.
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
VPN - Sounds like you had a great time with the wild dogs. Some good suggestions above for improving this fine image. Stick around BPN and you'll learn a tremendous amount about PP and CS5. Make sure you spend some time reading the threads in the Tutorial and Educational Resource Forum and also in the Digital Workflow Forum.
Thank's a lot for your detailed instruction on how to improve this image.Its very nice of you to post an image to Illustrate your points. I am tempted to send you a tiff file to work on but I don't want to impose
Wise you a very happy new year
VPN
Hi Rachel,
I certainly had a wonderful time and the guide informed me that although there are quite a few wild dog packs it is not easy to find them Thank's for your advice I shall try to absorb as much as I can from the BPN forms.
Wise you a very happy new year
VPN
Hi VPN, I assume you shoot RAW? If you do and you are able to export the original with non of your changes to it, then happy to look at it. My only concern would be how big the file would be and I could only then send you back a JPEG as the tiff would certainly be too big to email unless you had a FTP site, or I could try zipping it, but again it might come down to size and if you can open it as I am Mac. Having never tried it I would assume zipping a file on a Mac a PC could open?
Drop me a PM, I have a limited window as I will be off shortly and will only have access to the web.
Cheers
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Lovely image, and some good suggestions made already.
I agree with cropping some off the RHS. I think the ideal colour balance for my tastes would be somewhere between your original and Steve's repost.
Originally Posted by v.p.nurdeen
I should join a workshop to improve my PP skills
You should be able to pick up quite a few skills right here on BPN...many members of this community can attest to that, I can as well
Hi Morkel,
Thank you for your comments i sure am looking forward to pick up a few tips from great guys like you, Steve and the rest of the gang on BPN
Wise you a very Happy New Year and have great holiday.
Cheers
VPN
Camping for 14 days, I am sure that was an experience of a lifetime. Very nice capture, nothing more to add to what has already been said. Thank you for the post and keep it up!
Camping for 14 days, I am sure that was an experience of a lifetime. Very nice capture, nothing more to add to what has already been said. Thank you for the post and keep it up!
Hi Tom,
Thanks’ for your comments and encouragement. You are so right about the camping experience When the Travel broacher said camping I assumed it’s like an American style camping site with portable toilets and shower. Boy was I wrong. First we had to pitch our own tent, the toilet is a hole in the ground dug by our driver and the shower is a bag huge on a rope suspended on a tree with a cavers screen
Wise you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR
VPN
Great pose captured, VPN, great suggestions to improve, and I think the vertical crop works very nice as well. Sounds like you had quite and adventure. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year VPN, or is is VP? Not sure exactly how to address you. I like Harshad's vertical crop the best, for what it is worth. Very nice capture.