Zebras

[William Walker]

I decided to head off to Umfolozi Game Reserve, which is only about three hours away, for a few days.

This series presented itself to me, and I felt that I might have something after taking it. I could not wait to get back to the computer to see them.

The zebra were drinking at the waterhole and slowly wandered off to wait for the rest of the herd. They stood away to the side in this "frame" of trees and branches and were "illuminated" for a few seconds. I think I missed the the first shot...but these three shots were all I could get before they moved on...Still, I am happy with the results and now would like to hear what you guys think.

Thanks
William

[Chairman Bill]

The first one is the best IMO, then number 3. I certainly get a sense of how for a predator, singling out just one zebra is going to be a difficult decision, and also how well their markings are going to offer camouflage from a distance when amongst trees.

I do wonder about the possibility of cropping the first one so that it's more closely framed around the group of zebras, not as an 'instead of', but as an addition to the one posted. I think it could work either way, so maybe worth exploring

[louoates]

I really like the idea of cropping way in to the three heads and shoulders of #1 of 3. Another very interesting part of #1 is the tree shadows on the hind end of the zebra on the right. I love the isolation of #3. Well seen!

[RSL]

Ignore the croppers, William. The point of the picture (#1) is zebras amongst foliage and it would be a crime to remove the two trees that, happily, form a partial canopy above the animals. If I have a beef it's that the dodging of the zebras is, maybe, a bit too obvious. I like the effect but it may be overdone.

I was able to bring up #1, but my system wants to load 2 and 3 into DreamWeaver, which won't work.

[Chairman Bill]

Russ, you'll note that they 'croppers' were suggesting this as an addition to the current number one, which is indeed fine as it is, but might be equally fine cropped. Two for the price of one

[RSL]

You're right, Bill. Crop away privately but leave the original in its pristine state. When cropping, remember that a single pixel is as far as you can go.

[Jeremy Roussak]

When cropping, remember that a single pixel is as far as you can go.

I'd follow Russ's advice, but having taking one pixel off, I'd save, go away, have a cup of coffee, come back and take off another, repeating until I'd removed most of the blurred foreground from #1. It's the pick of the bunch and I like it a lot.

Jeremy

[louoates]

Sometimes it is just plain fun to see how many useful images can be made from one shot. Thank goodness for ample pixel counts and blowup software.

[William Walker]

Thanks for the comments - I appreciate them all!

Bill, further to your comment about predators, loot at how the necks illustrate your point...

[mjrichardson]

Hi William

I have really mixed feelings looking at the first set of 3, my initial reaction on seeing the thumbnails was ooh, this will be good, nice subject, good b&w conversion, I will like these but on clicking to enlarge I am disappointed with the post processing, i think it really lets down what could be great images. I notice that nobody else is picking up on this so take it as my over critical view but there is no transition between the sharpness of the centre and the obvious treatment to the surrounding areas, it's really off putting and detracts from the image as a whole.

These are nice enough views to warrant reworking the post in my opinion, I think it's the blurring that bothers me, the subject is already in the centre, maybe a heavy vignette would work better than a false out of focus/gausian blur layer? Whatever you do, as long as the processing isn't so obvious it will improve things, it's possible on the first shot to draw a circle around the zebras where the sharp changes to blurred and that really bothers me.

Sorry if I'm being a bit harsh, I wouldn't bother if the image wasn't worth it.

Mat

[William Walker]

Thanks Mat!

I have already made some changes based on what a few others have said (based on over-processing) - here they are...

[mjrichardson]

William

I still think you can do better with these, whilst slightly less obvious, the processing when looking up close is really strange, you can see where you've used a large hard edged brush in some areas leaving strange out of focus areas, especially in the first 2 shots. Are they single images?

Anyway, as with all critique, it's only really a personal view, if you're happy with them then that's all that really matters.

Mat

[William Walker]

William

I still think you can do better with these, whilst slightly less obvious, the processing when looking up close is really strange, you can see where you've used a large hard edged brush in some areas leaving strange out of focus areas, especially in the first 2 shots. Are they single images?

Anyway, as with all critique, it's only really a personal view, if you're happy with them then that's all that really matters.

Mat

All I have done here is in Lightroom. I used the brush on the zebras only and increased "Exposure" by .37.
Globally I increased contrast (+22),  Vignette -9 & Clarity +14.

[David Eckels]

I think the reworks are much improved b/c that gaussian blur bothered me too. I also think that #3 is an appropriate conclusion to the series : The End

[luxborealis]

Hi William,
I've been holding off on commenting as I was unsure what to say. I've been around zebras a lot so I appreciate what you are trying to do with this series, but I think, in this rare case, (and I am never one to suggest this!) it would have worked better as a video.

The problem with African wildlife photos is that we, the public, have been wowed with some incredible work over the years, particularly in B&W. While there is some tension in the eyes of the zebra, I'm not sure there is much else in the photos to add interest. Although the scrub is completely natural, to the average viewer it is uninteresting scrub. And having three photos in a row, to me doesn't add to the drama that you saw.

[William Walker]

Thanks again for all the comments - I take each one to heart and learn...that is why I post here.

It looks like quite a few posts have taken a bit it a "hammering" here over the last few days so I don't feel completely alone!

Oh well...back to the drawing-board...

Thanks again
William