The Theme for this month is Rodents, thought I would show you some more ground squirrels.
Those two were playing like crazy... I was busy packing my gear into the vehicle at the time but could not resist a couple of frames. It was slightly overcast, the sun was showing through the clouds from time to time and the sand was cool and wet in patches from a heavy rain shower during the night. The action was happening at the edge of their burrow and lasted a few minutes. Eventually both squirrels tumbled down into the burrow and disappeared from sight, I had to wait a while until they resurfaced.
I processed this as faithfully as I could, hoping to bring out the most valuable features of those those characters. I personally feel the tonality is quite accurate here but I am open to your critique and suggestions.
Gabriela the last one you posted of these two was great but this appeals even more,think Mike as a point the hold does look very professional,I'm really enjoying looking at this.
Looks great to me, I like the colours and the detail. Composition and size in the frame looks optimal. Is it my eyes or is there a little fogginess around the whiskers?
Jon, regarding whiskers: not enough DoF I guess. Even F7.1 would have been about right, IMO. You might have noticed the back of the big squirrel is also " foggy", so to speak. I must place that old teddy bear in the garden at the weekend and play with DoF again I do not blur, I find this PS tool too rough. Should I wish for a smoother BG I sometimes reduce contrast a tad, in this case it was not necessary. Shallower DoF worked for the BG to some extent here but not so much for the squirrels. I could come up with the eternal excuse: "...not enough time to think about camera settings", but I won't. I guess this is what makes a great photographer, the ability to judge a situation fast and make the right decisions in good time. Will I ever stop learning? I do not think so
Thank you all so much for critique and for taking the time to view, I so appreciate it.
Hi Gabriela - What a fun image and the poses are great. I like that they are on the edge of the ridge too so the bg is a bit more distant. Colors do look good though I might back off on the contrast slightly as the fur looks a bit coarse. Thanks for kicking off the rodent theme, I don't have many eligible images.
Hi Gabriela -- You are showing us some fantastic images lately and this one is no exception either. I liked the moment entirely , nice details and colours, great timing and the ground level POV makes this image for me . Agree with Rachel on having that slightest of coarse look to it .
I am 50-50 on those patches of green in the BKG, without them the BG might have been to sterile , but also I feel they are somewhat distracting .
Hi Gabriela, I like the interaction here and the way they appear to be showing characteristics of some 'wrestling' moves. Another nice angle with the FG foliage just creeping into frame. With regard to the techs I feel f/8 and SS around 1/2500 as you had ISO back-up to do so.
Personally I find it a bit contrasty and heavy on the blacks portraying a slightly 'dark' looking image, very evident in the eye. With the fur having the appearance of being very flat and smooth, finely packed together it's like a knitted sweater, or they have been wet and it's all been smoothed down, if that makes sense, but again it has a coarseness to it? I feel that you are darkening images when really they need to be as is or slightly lighter, as a third of a stop either way will not make a difference to the IQ but visually it might just give it the edge. I also feel that you are 'pinching' the Histogram within Levels which may not be the wisest of choices, but if you do, be selective rather than Global. If you are getting the Exposure right then stick to Curves rather than Levels as that really is at first base, time to move on .
Thank you so much Steve, I was so looking forward to your reply:)
I agree with you on the slight dark appearance of the image overall. I seem to do that quite often lately, bad habit I need to change.
Regarding fur, in real life it is really coarse and kind of gritty and unclean looking, very unlike tree squirrels. I did try to emphasise that to some extent. But looking at my post with fresh eyes I see what you mean, Levels pushed too far, will also check WB, let me do an RP and stick to Curves only, may I drop you a line if I get stuck as I want to get this right
As always, I really appreciate you taking time to help
Hi Gabriela, parking the WB to one side (i.e. the overall colour of the image) this was my take based on the above feedback. I think coupled with you own experience with these guys you know where you can 'push & pull' on this RP and be able to re map things better. I'm just trying to illustrate a few points that should help I hope for the next in line of postings. I have cropped hard and that was for a specific reason, therefore please DO NOT take the crop, your OP was fine.
Hey Gabby, another wonderful moment caught with these two ruffians again a complete joy to see it must be impossible not to smile at these guys and their antics. The facial expressions are wonderful too,ahh mate I do love your work. Gabby I concur on your musings of a great photographer that ability to impliment the techs incredibly quickly and see the "vision" of the image before had ,especially regarding the finer points of dof. Very educational reading this thread as well as the sheer joy of your take on your little friends I adore the subtle way Steve processes,(don't let him hear that). Here I'm sort of leaning somewhere between the two,but it's incredibly difficult when one doesn't really know the subject. As before being framed at the edge of their burrow is really cool for me
He he I'd love to have just seen this,it would have had me smiling for weeks after.
Beautifully work again Gabby,
Have the most fantastic weekend. We have wall to wall sunshine its glorious........ it's so nice being warm again out side