evening light

Gallery: WildlifePosted July 1, 2012199 views7 comments

Photographed this buck during the week as the sun was setting behind a stand of trees on some grasslands. I applied a lot of what I've learned here at NPN and particularly from Brad Hill to attempt to underexpose this image and create the rim lighting. I think the fact that I did very minimal post-processing on this image is proof that it paid off. It's not totally what I envisioned and I could go without a lot of the OOF area in the foreground, but it's very near what I was hoping for and much more visually interesting than photos of other bucks in complete light or flat shadows.

Nikon D300s 300 f4 + 1.7X TC HH
f/10
1/600s
ISO 640
-2 EC

Cropped to 75%, adjustments in CS5 on 27" iMac

- Luke

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on July 2, 2012 at 8:49 AM

Nicely done with the rim lighting. You caught the buck just right IMHO. I do think it might be just a tad too dark, but not sure. Maybe if it was cropped alittle tighter. Just a minor item anyway. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on July 2, 2012 at 12:16 PM

Visually interesting indeed Luke, I quite like what you haveachieved here. My only 'nit' really concerns the brighter OOF FG, which you already mentioned as well. I would simply darken that down or crop it off.

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Wolfe on July 2, 2012 at 4:26 PM

For myself, personally, I feel like it is just a tad too dark.

Registered on April 7, 2012, 42 Posts, 103 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on July 2, 2012 at 6:52 PM

Luke, I really like that you were previsualizing this straight shot in order to create something much more visceral, a lesson I'm going to try and remember. It is a moody and mysterious photo. I was out shooting today and thinking about how to get away from taking photos that are literal expressions of the scenes before me, this is one excellent example of doing just that.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on July 2, 2012 at 7:07 PM

It's a must see large image Luke, really like what you've done with this.
There's a very special mood here that only this kind lighting can convey.
I like it as posted with the FG in..

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Hahn on July 2, 2012 at 9:44 PM

Luke,

Great picture & like Howard said it is a must see in the larger view.

Rich

Registered on August 16, 2007, 14 Posts, 151 Comments

Comment posted by Ed Cordes on July 2, 2012 at 9:46 PM

Very nice concept. I would crop out the OOF FG at the bottom of the frame and lighten the image some.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 451 Posts, 3366 Comments