Amber Eyes II

Gallery: WildlifePosted January 17, 201455 views4 comments

This image was taken at Masada next to the Dead Sea in Israel. I ran into a small band of ibex as I descended Masada. This was almost full frame, so there wasn't much I could do about the centered aspect of the image. Now, as back then, the thing I liked most about this image was the ibex's eyes. I found the amber color simply amazing.I am posting it again because I know more about post processing than I did back then. I enjoy going back and processing old images with the new tools and knowledge I have gained. I'm sure some of you do also. I think that this is a much better image than the one I posted two years ago.

For some reason, my first posting of this image does not appear in my gallery. I must not have check the box for it to be included in my gallery. If you want to compare this with the previous post, do a search on "Masada" and it will be the only image that comes up.

Comments and Critiques welcome.

Canon 7D
Canon 100-400 L IS
f5.6
1/400 s
ISO 100
Focal Length 300mm

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on January 18, 2014 at 11:06 PM

Hi Jerry. Like the Bighorn sheep we have around here, the eyes of the Ibex are very beautiful. It is very nice that you have some direct light striking the one eye to show it off even more. I like simple compositions and therefore I'm bothered a little by those two stray bits of grass encroaching into the frame. I think that the jaunty angle of the head largely makes up for the somewhat centred subject.

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

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on January 19, 2014 at 10:26 AM

I, too, appreciate the quality of the light in the eye. I don't mind the grass strands, but wonder about the squarish crop. If I were printing this, I would add a bit of selective sharpening to expand the depth of field a bit, such as on the tip of the nose.

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on January 20, 2014 at 1:24 PM

Hi Jerry,

Yep, the eyes are striking - and you've done a good job of making them stick out. Like Lon, I'm wondering about the squarish crop, and am left thinking if this was cropped from the left side, then I'd be tempted to include more of it (unless of course, it contains something very distracting). Overall I rarely like square crops (unless the content really fits them well).

I'm not strongly bothered by the grass, but understand why others might be. Fortunately, it would be really easy to remove them (via cloning, or with content aware fill) if you were so inclined. I am left wishing for a less contrasty background (mainly owing to the large dark hole/cave), but likely something you couldn't do anything about (meaning likely no way to reposition yourself so that it wasn't there).

Cheers...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on January 20, 2014 at 1:32 PM

Thanks for all the comments.

Brad/Lon,

I did take a bit off the left side because there was some very light rocks with blown out highlights in that area. The light was pretty harsh when I encountered the ibex. I used Lightzone to tone down some of the rocks remaining in the left side of the image. That left me with a squarish crop. By the way Brad, thanks for the help with LightZone. I have been using it and I really like it.

Jerry

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments