Jason Kravitz
About the Image(s)
Four Horns
I was driving through the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge when we came upon a traffic jam. A mother longhorn was crossing the road with her calves. We were a few cars back from the front of the line so I couldn't get a clear photo of that scene, but was able to snap some photos of these two and their friends on the nearby ridge. To get a sense of the distance (I was at ~300mm equivalent) , you can see a photo I took of my brother-in-law photographing the same scene on his phone.
https://jason.aminus3.com/image/2021-08-11.html
On the original image, I added my LR edit history which included:
Graduated filter on top to darken the sky
Cropped some off right side to remove other cow
Contrast adjustments (daker black, lighter white, more shadow, less highlights which added detail to sky)
Some vibrance for color pop and texture for sharpening + more vibrance on green for the grass
another graduated filter on cows faces which brightens them
and another one (not shown) on the bottom to add some shadow to the bottom grass
Panasonic DC-G9 1/400 second F/6.3 ISO 200 312mm
This round’s discussion is now closed!
10 comments posted
Very well captured and processed, liked.
  Posted: 10/03/2021 23:04:46
I find the whole image a bit too busy with colour and texture, so tried to take some out of the rocks to make the beasts more prominent.
The sky has been darkened and it feels like a storm brewing, but the rest of the scene is bright so the two don't seem to gel to me.
  Posted: 10/04/2021 14:33:52
Some of the most dramatic and beautiful skies I've seen are dark dark clouds which focus the light in wonderful ways across a landscape. Though perhaps not as natural or well translated in this image.   Posted: 10/07/2021 10:52:46
The calves are super cute, and its great they are different colors. I'd consider brightening their eyes a bit so we see at catchlight. The white faced guy seems especially "dead".
Here's a trick from Scott Kelby on the graduated filter sky that you may not have seen. Instead of darkening exposure, which often gives the gray sky you got, he uses the "Temp", the very first item in the Develop Panel. Pull to the blue side and you'll get blue instead of gray. If its evening, I'll use the "Tint" second slider) and add some magenta for a more purple-ish darkening sky. Or Sky replacement in Photoshop is also a perfect solution!
Love these guys and good for you to photograph them and stay alive!
  Posted: 10/10/2021 18:03:40
Thanks for the tip on the sky using color temp, that's a new one to me but makes sense.
It was a bit harder in this image because the sky is not isolated so making it bluer with a gradient means the upper rock and horns go blue too. But tried to pull the gradient up some it is higher towards top.   Posted: 10/26/2021 10:17:14