Elephants

[Riaan van Wyk]

I have shown this to a few people and the general consensus was that it doesn't work- subjects too close to the edges, too much space on the bottom. Would it perhaps works as an opening page for a magazine article? Where the spaces could be used for print? I would appreciate your view.

[John R Smith]

Riaan

Well, you have already told us what's wrong with it. On the plus side, focus is spot-on the right-hand animal, it is mostly sharp, and has excellent B/W tonality. But the composition is terrible - you have cropped it far too tightly, cut off the the left-hand subject, and left a hole in the middle of the picture with no subject at all. And no, you aren't going to save it by hoping a picture editor will pick it up for a full-bleed page in a magazine either. Most picture editors and mag designers have a pretty good eye for composition, too.

Nice elephants, though.

John

[wolfnowl]

What John said...

Cut and move on.

Mike.

[John R]

You can't always save an image and in more cases than we care to admit, many are just not worth saving.

I really like the tones and the sharpness and the obvious suggestion of a dependent relationship. I have one suggestion, though it will by no means make it a great image. Perhaps a little better. I have cropped the image to allow only part of the mother elephant to show. This creates a dynamic between the white tusks and eyes of the two elephants and allows the curvature of the two bodies to tie the image together and help lead the eye through an implied circle. Almost everything is preserved.

[Jeremy Roussak]

You can't always save an image and in more cases than we care to admit, many are just not worth saving.

I really like the tones and the sharpness and the obvious suggestion of a dependent relationship. I have one suggestion, though it will by no means make it a great image. Perhaps a little better. I have cropped the image to allow only part of the mother elephant to show. This creates a dynamic between the white tusks and eyes of the two elephants and allows the curvature of the two bodies to tie the image together and help lead the eye through an implied circle. Almost everything is preserved.

Nice try, John, but I think you're flogging a dead horse.

Jeremy

[John R]

Nice try, John, but I think you're flogging a dead horse.

Jeremy

Of course, you meant a "dead elephant."

JMR

[Riaan van Wyk]

Thank you folks- I appreciate the comments.

[Riaan van Wyk]

Again, I have some reservations about the composition. Your thoughts please?

[degrub]

tried to narrow the scene a little bit and emphasize the expressions of the elephants - meeting of the minds, perhaps ?

[RSL]

Riaan, Fine composition. That one's definitely a keeper.

[Riaan van Wyk]

- meeting of the minds, perhaps ?

Yeah, exactly what these animals were doing- being from different herds. I tried to show/ add scale by including the height of the elephants but I got the feeling that something is missing.

Perhaps the attached image shows the intimacy more, this time between same-herd animals.

As much as I don't like elephants ( personal experience) I find them difficult to compose too.

[Riaan van Wyk]

Riaan, Fine composition. That one's definitely a keeper.

Much obliged Russ..

[Jeremy Roussak]

tried to narrow the scene a little bit and emphasize the expressions of the elephants - meeting of the minds, perhaps ?

I think that's a better crop. I'd rather like to "uncrop" a bit on the left hand side, though: the eye feels just a bit too close to the edge. Riaan, was there any more image there?

Jeremy