Elephant shot - I really need help getting it perfect

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

M

MichelA

Member
Member's gallery
Hi Folks - this elephant crossed the road while we were driving in Kruger National Park.
I really like this photo, but something is bothering me with the edit. I can't even put my finger on it.
I would appreciate any insights of how you would improve processing this image.
If you would like to give the editing a try, I would send you the raw file to play with.
 
Member's gallery
MichelA said:
Hi Folks - this elephant crossed the road while we were driving in Kruger National Park.
I really like this photo, but something is bothering me with the edit. I can't even put my finger on it.
I would appreciate any insights of how you would improve processing this image.
If you would like to give the editing a try, I would send you the raw file to play with.
Click to expand...
I think it could use some contrast bumping and the tones are the same across the image so playing with foreground and background, maybe? Would be nice to bring up some light on the baby too. Very nice capture!
 
Member's gallery
It's a great capture but the baby is completely hidden in the shadows. Needs a bit more of selective highlight and mid-tone contrast. Send me a link to your RAW file and I could give it a try.
 
Member's gallery
Photoshopcafe ~ Colin Smith, has a wonderful video tut on how to remove shadows off an ellie. This may help you to place the baby in the same light as the mom, currently, the impact is lost and that is what you see and "feel" in your image. You should punch up the light overall on the subject. Do all in colour and then convert in the end to B&W.
I would also "loose" the BG, especially behind her trunk, as your eye is pulled into the "hole" behind her. Fix the darls at her feet too. Nik Vivezia can help there. Her eye is also very dark, more light there. You can selectively open the dark areas on her body with Viveza. The crop is very tight for such a large subject, maybe add a bit of breathing space in front and above her? Remember, this is gut-feel - your image, your feeling and how you render it. These are just suggestions.
 
Member's gallery
Callie said:
Photoshopcafe ~ Colin Smith, has a wonderful video tut on how to remove shadows off an ellie. This may help you to place the baby in the same light as the mom, currently, the impact is lost and that is what you see and "feel" in your image. You should punch up the light overall on the subject. Do all in colour and then convert in the end to B&W.
I would also "loose" the BG, especially behind her trunk, as your eye is pulled into the "hole" behind her. Fix the darls at her feet too. Nik Vivezia can help there. Her eye is also very dark, more light there. You can selectively open the dark areas on her body with Viveza. The crop is very tight for such a large subject, maybe add a bit of breathing space in front and above her? Remember, this is gut-feel - your image, your feeling and how you render it. These are just suggestions.
Click to expand...
Waauuw, Tx Callie for the detailed recommendations. So far I have only been using LR. Seems these are beyond my league ...
 
Member's gallery
MichelA said:
Hi Folks - this elephant crossed the road while we were driving in Kruger National Park.
I really like this photo, but something is bothering me with the edit. I can't even put my finger on it.
I would appreciate any insights of how you would improve processing this image.
If you would like to give the editing a try, I would send you the raw file to play with.
Click to expand...

A really cute shot with the baby! As someone else noted, the image is mostly the same tone across the image. BW generally looks better from a viewpoint perspective when there is a gradation of tone across the range from 0-255. Use the tones to emphasize what you want the viewer to see, darker tones recede and lighter tones bring our eye forward. If you use Nik they used to have a nice tone scale at the bottom, otherwise use the histogram in whatever software you are using to determine if you have tones across the range, then move the tones where you want them to be. Just my thought on it. A BW with few tones is very "muddy."
 
Member's gallery
Viathelens said:
A really cute shot with the baby! As someone else noted, the image is mostly the same tone across the image. BW generally looks better from a viewpoint perspective when there is a gradation of tone across the range from 0-255. Use the tones to emphasize what you want the viewer to see, darker tones recede and lighter tones bring our eye forward. If you use Nik they used to have a nice tone scale at the bottom, otherwise use the histogram in whatever software you are using to determine if you have tones across the range, then move the tones where you want them to be. Just my thought on it. A BW with few tones is very "muddy."
Click to expand...
Thanks Viathelens - I will try some tweaks along these lines.
 
Member's gallery
It is a marvelous photo, but would work better in color, imo. The elephant and background are basically the same mid-tone gray tone, and blend into one another. The little one lacks enough light on him , and gets lost in the surroundings. You have to take a look or three to realize there is a small one in the photo...at least, I did. I think it works, him/her showing as a silhouette, tucked safely under mom.
 
Member's gallery
@MichelA

Don't really know if this works. My PC motherboard died and this was done on a very old limited capacity computer. Hope it works for you. Feel free to criticise it... I'm like the elephant and have broad shoulders and tough skin. :) Just don't ask how I did it. The G & T's affected my memory. o_O

Before​
After​
Elephant_01.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
Elephant_02.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
 
Member's gallery
PS. I just realised I should have taken out that white line area in front of the elephants eyes and patched up the white slab on the road. Both are distractions.
 
Member's gallery
MichelA said:
Hi Folks - this elephant crossed the road while we were driving in Kruger National Park.
I really like this photo, but something is bothering me with the edit. I can't even put my finger on it.
I would appreciate any insights of how you would improve processing this image.
If you would like to give the editing a try, I would send you the raw file to play with.
Click to expand...

Hi, send me the RAW file and I will give it a try. Do you send it to the forum or do you need my personal email? Or Dropbox?
 
Member's gallery
MichelA said:
Hi Folks - this elephant crossed the road while we were driving in Kruger National Park.
I really like this photo, but something is bothering me with the edit. I can't even put my finger on it.
I would appreciate any insights of how you would improve processing this image.
If you would like to give the editing a try, I would send you the raw file to play with.
Click to expand...

So, I gave this a shot. It might not be perfect yet, I tend to work on things until they are but I just wanted you to see the possibilities. The baby elephant was in the shadows so that blocked up the shadows to a degree but I think it worked out acceptably for viewing although his face could use more processing, there was a lot of noise in the extreme shadows. There was also a lot of color fringing in the treetops, mostly to the left that needed correction. I can email you everything I've done if you want that but every image is different and there is no formula to follow for the most part, just some basic guidelines. I've included color and BW. I'm partial to the BW as I've done a lot of BW recently with some shots I took in South Africa and I loved them. The BW might need a little contrast but I tend to like a high-key BW, your instincts may be different.

elephant color MichelA.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.


michelA.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
 
Member's gallery
This was fun! Thanks for posting the raw file. I had a quick go at it. Tried to get the baby to stand out a bit more and for both to pop off the background a bit.
181202-16 South Africa 423.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top