Elephant and Kilimanjaro

[grumpybadger]

I was lucky enough to visit Kenya in January and go to Amboseli National Park. I've been inspired in the past by the work of Martyn Colbeck (LINK (http://www.gallery2c.com/c/a/43/(Limited+Edition+Original+Prints)+Martyn+Colbeck.h tml)) so was very excited to be able to go to the same location.

Unfortunately, Kilimanjaro was covered in cloud for most of the 3 days I was there and the only opportunity to go for the "classic" elephant and Kili shot was in the late morning when the light was very harsh. The haze made it very difficult to get clarity between mountain and sky, so I tried black and white (well actually a slight sepia) to see if that worked. I've also really struggled with the shadow detail on the elephant's left flank and this is the best I can manage.

Any comments, criticisms gratefully received.

http://www.beastall.com/tp/amboselli_600.jpg

Thanks

Paul

[CT]

It looks just fine to me, and I'm sure the light was very contrasty -in fact it's pretty damned good.

I might be inclined to crop some foreground to get a more 3:2 ratio, and possibly just a bit of a crop at the top of necessary - otherwise I'd be well pleased with that. :)

[dod]

It looks just fine to me, and I'm sure the light was very contrasty -in fact it's pretty damned good.

I might be inclined to crop some foreground to get a more 3:2 ratio, and possibly just a bit of a crop at the top of necessary - otherwise I'd be well pleased with that. :)
Quoting saves typing ;)

[photostar_1]

Quoting saves typing ;)

:lol: :lol: :agree: "smilies" make it even easier!

:thumbs:

[oldgit]

:agree: :thumbs: = ditto

[grumpybadger]

Thanks all. Interesting point about the crop. It started as a 3:2 aspect ratio (EOS 1DMkII with 70-200@70mm) and I cropped it from the right as I felt there was too much space and it needed to be 11x8.5 to fit the Photobox photobook I was preparing.

Looking now, I can see the point about losing a touch from top and bottom too. I'll give it a try.

Paul

[Messiah Khan]

Lovely shot. I however feel the lack of contrast in sky and foreground compared to the elephant is a bit too distracting. Have you tried selectively dodging and buring to get it balanced a little better? I also agree about trimming some of that foreground away. Other than that, good work, and your very lucky to have been there.:)

[grumpybadger]

I've tried lots to try and balance the elephant to the sky and to no-avail. But I am certainly no Photoshop guru. I found anything I did to decrease contrast on the elephant lead to an increase in shadow noise which I found more distracting.

If anyone feels like having a go to show me how it's done I'm a very willing pupil!

[Irritable_Rabbit]

Hello. :wave:

I have also been forced to take a few pictures in the harsh sunlight of East Africa on occasion, and well, er, in my opinion there's not a lot I can do to scrub up an image taken in those conditions. In fact apart from having a record shot I sometimes wonder why I bother taking them in the first place.

Obviously some things do help, but I never get anything close to a prize winner.

With this one, the light doesn't appear too awful considering, but I'd work on the composition for sure to make it a nicer shot, as has been mentioned. I think I would go for more of a letter box look with something like a 16:9 crop ratio on it. :thumbs:

I assume you used RAW to shoot and how are you compressing the image for web use? I think we can cope with 800 pixel images and about 100 to 150k round here. The sky looks terribly posterized. :(

Oh and you are lucky to see the top of Kilimanjaro. I was over there in November as unusually heavy rains commenced and flooded too many areas of Kenya for comfort. Interesting drive out for us. :D Not so good for the locals though.

[Messiah Khan]

Hope its ok to edit your pics. heres my take on it;

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/7250/amboselli600copywj1.jpg

Forgive me if it looks completely wrong, but im using the monitor here at work, which is way out, and theres searious glare on the screen as well. I might attempt to do it properly later on tonight after work.

[grumpybadger]

Hi Rabbit - I've certainly got many pictures taken over the last decade in Africa that aren't worth trying to rescue but this is the one elephant/Kili shot I managed to get so I wanted to give it a go. Although I'm back in Kenya in September, I don't plan to go to Amboseli so won't have a chance in the near future to try again.

It was also incredibly wet when I was there in January. This has upsides and down. I was lucky enough to see Lesser Flamingo on Lake Amboseli, which had flooded due to the rains.

Messiah Khan - thanks for this. I see the composition point but I think the attempt at contrast had lead to compression in the sky and around the mountain which is causing the picture to look a little "odd". If you have time/inclination, please feel free to have a bash and try later.

Just for info, here is the original shot before I set it to 11x8.5 for my photobook

http://www.beastall.com/tp/NR7V4417-01-edited-sepia.jpg

and here's my take on a slightly tighter crop to lose the foreground grass

http://www.beastall.com/tp/NR7V4417-01-edited-sepia-2.jpg

cheers

Paul

Original sky is ok, but think web compression is affecting the posterisation.

[Amp34]

I was ging to suggest a colour shot but then read what you had written. I think Messiah kahn's suggestion is the way forward though, maybe a little more contrast in the sky/kilimanjaro would do the picture good.

And FTR I think the closer crop is a better crop. :)

[Irritable_Rabbit]

Hi Rabbit - I've certainly got many pictures taken over the last decade in Africa that aren't worth trying to rescue but this is the one elephant/Kili shot I managed to get so I wanted to give it a go. Although I'm back in Kenya in September, I don't plan to go to Amboseli so won't have a chance in the near future to try again.



Like the place do you? ;)

Here's a 16:9 crop with local contrast enhancement.

http://www.aopd11.dsl.pipex.com/TalkPhoto/LCenhance16_9.jpg

Or similar with the space removed from the right.

http://www.aopd11.dsl.pipex.com/TalkPhoto/LCenhance16_9_2.jpg

And I AM a bit slow.... Grumpybadger? Irritable_rabbit (The one and only. :D) What else are we going to get around here? A_bit_miffed_vole? P@#sed_off_Fox?

[CT]

I really like the more pano version. :)

[grumpybadger]

I think the last one brings the mountain too close to the top of the frame but I do like the widest one. I think you're right in that the space to the right of the ele helps to balance the frame.

I hadn't twigged the name similarity either I'm afraid. My is based on being prematurely grey and a miserable ba***rd...

And yes, I do have a soft spot for Africa in general. They'll be more from the back catalogue coming out over the next few weeks.

Paul

[Messiah Khan]

Hello. Im back home noe, infront of my decent monitor, unlike that vile thing at work. I'll give it another go now. Would there be any chance of you posting or emailing me a colour version? I suspect it might be easier to bring contast out in the right areas if using levels on seperate colours.

[Irritable_Rabbit]

Yes, the first pano was my favourite for sure. The second I did just for illustration really. :)

Well the name makes sense then. :D Unforunately, I can't really say why mine works. ;)

And it looks like the whole place is going to go a bit African soon as I've just returned from a trip out to Kenya myself. Between my normal work and other photo projects, working through the >800 frames of 35mm has been a struggle. I'm sure I'll have a few ropey shots up here as well in the next few weeks. :thumbs:

Hope people don't get bored of Africa pics. :thinking:

[Messiah Khan]

Your uncropped one;
http://www.beastall.com/tp/NR7V4417-01-edited-sepia.jpg
My take 2;
http://www.afowler.co.uk/Misc/NR7V4417-01-edited-sepia-2.jpg

[grumpybadger]

Hmm, that is an improvement. Thanks. Any tips on how you got there?

[Messiah Khan]

Lots of fiddling in Lightroom, then a bit of dodging and burning in CS2. Sorry I can't be any more detailed than that, as I can't quite remember what I did now.:bonk:

[Forbiddenbiker]

I wondered weather I could find an improvement method, just for my own interest. ..Ended up falling in love with your image. :thumbs: so I though I'd show it even though you've all been there already. ..Hope it’s useful...Edit; Not sure if thats any better or worse looking now lol.

I used an HDR software package... think I’ve messed the sky and colour a little. Used 3 adjusted jpg copies, one stop/ev each way then the hdr software to combine then and then adjusted the tones...back to Photoshop to correct colour and levels.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/optiflow/NR7V4417-01-edited-sepiaTP.jpg

[IanC_UK]

very nice shot, the grass/scrub looks a little too bright for me, but in Messiah khans edit it looks much better, have to agree the slightly tighter crop is better too :) africa is on my visit list for next year :) been working towards it for 3 or 4 years now lol

[Richard Peters]

You could probably use the shadow and highlight tool in photoshop to rescue all the shadows you wanted, so try that. Using the HDR route seems a little pointless as your only using information thats already in the original image so correct fiddling in photoshop with the original will get you were you want to be anyway.

Lovely shot by the way :)

[grumpybadger]

Certainly prefer the darkened grass. I'll have a play with that.

Thanks for the kind comments. The ele really did play along. I have another shot (more comedy value) with it holding its trunk out towards the left of the frame like it is pointing to the mountain...