Jerry Snyder  


Clean Elephant by Jerry Snyder

July 2017 - Clean Elephant

About the Image(s)

The image was taken in May 2017 with a Canon 50D and a Canon 100-400 mm II lens. The focal length was set at 135 mm and the f-number was set at 5.0 in aperture priority exposure mode. Because of the bright mid-day sunlight, the shutter speed was 1/1025 th of a second. This elephant had just emerged from the Chobe River in Botswana. The harsh light emphasized the texture of her dark shiny skin. Her wet feet picked up the light colored sand, contrasting with her dark skin. The texture and contrast called for a black and white treatment. I adjusted the exposure and contrast slightly then used a curves adjustment to further expand the tonal range using Faststone. Lastly, I applied some USM sharpening before converting to monochrome and cropping the image. The elephant swished her tail away from the camera during this shot, but of the series of images, this one shows the white sand of the feet the most. So, I chose to emphasize the white feet and live with the unusual tail appearance.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
5 comments posted




Stan Bormann   Stan Bormann
My first reaction was to the strong textures in the skin. Generally there is dirt or even mud that hides some of this. Your words explained it all, but the texture is very nice. If you are not using it in Nature, I would zap a couple of white spots or lines probably from some straw or something on the skin. I think I might try to bring out more detail in the ground and the tusk perhaps a little dodging would help. If you use the photoshop dodge/burn tools you might experiment by selecting different options of highlights, midtowns, or shadows.   Posted: 07/10/2017 07:23:33



Stuart Ord   Stuart Ord
Yes, the skin is great in my view too. I like the sharpness and tonal range. Composition-wise, I like the placement of the elephant horizontally ... maybe a tiny bit more above it would be better, if you have any? The strong sunshine is making life hard for you and the camera, but I think you've got a great balance overall. Stan's comments on dodging sound good to me.

As for the tail, I hadn't noticed until I read your narrative! But if you'd like to, pinch one from your other images and paste it in!   Posted: 07/11/2017 15:31:27



John Roach   John Roach
I like your image. Tonal range is wonderful from light to full dark. I like the focus and detail of the elephant. Nicely done. I think if there was a little more room on the right and top depending on your framing or cropping, it would be enhance your image.   Posted: 07/13/2017 21:36:41



 
Beautiful, sharp clear image. The elephant could so easily be lost in the background foliage but it stands out well.   Posted: 07/27/2017 20:48:00



 
Very good processing of the image. Elephant is coming nice and sharp against all the jungle foliage in the background. Can you do something about the ground in front of the animal. Coming very harsh and bright. Skin tone is just perfect. I also liked the raised front leg. It denotes movement.   Posted: 07/31/2017 00:06:10