Melanie Hurwitz
November 2024 - Zebra
Original
About the Image(s)
We have just returned from a most wonderful trip to East Africa. We visited Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. We have been on many safaris and this one stands out as probably the best. One has to be lucky with animal sightings and we were very lucky.
Using IR is not a go to on Safari as one is usually photographing action and there is just not time to pick up the IR camera. I tried to make an effort to take more than just scenic infra red this time. The Zebra were against a beautiful sky, so IR was the way to go.
After converting with a Life Pixel action, the scene looked almost like a color shot, and viewers may not have noticed the IR at all. I do hope this meets the criteria that you all use to judge. After cropping and using AI Topas to sharpen and reduce noise, I used levels to to enhance the toning. It did need some contrast, but I kept that to a minimum to make the animals look natural. Looking forward to your comments.
Camera was still set for earlier in the day imaged (My mistake) so I hope you forgive the strange setting.
Sony AII 94mm, F5.6, ISO 800, 1/4000
10 comments posted
Glad you had such a fantastic trip. This is very much IR in my view, and I'd recognize it as such without any description. The underbrush and foliage have turned that special 'white'. Great job on the white whites and the black blacks! I wish two of them weren't merged, but on the other hand, it makes for a very natural scene in the wild. Yes, your sky is perfect IR conditions! Posted: 11/01/2024 12:16:24
Only nitpick is the the tips of the trees in center, can see where some dodging was done, that's always a tough transition to make look natural. Posted: 11/03/2024 02:46:12
The Zebras just POP in your image and from a story standpoint it looks the came into your frame from a path on the right and stopped to graze.
I am sort of amazed at how Black/White they render in IR. You were blessed with a nice sky above
Regards
Emil Posted: 11/08/2024 17:16:05