A Rock, a Vervet and I

[Gabriela Plesea]

• NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3S
• 500.0 mm f/4.0
• ƒ/6.3
• 500mm
• 1/1250s
• ISO 2000
• GABRIELA PLESEA
• Sun, 25 May 2014 8:05 AM
• GABRIELA PLESEA
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.0 (Macintosh)

Hello Friends,

Had this amazing experience last Sunday and I would like to share with you this one image I barely touched in terms of PP work. Not sure what can be done apart from crop and sharpening, I kind of liked it as it was. Should you have any suggestions, I am more than happy to hear and implement them:w3

We were very privileged to join a couple of friends on a photographic trip in a Private Game Reserve, only half an hour away from our home. The owners have recently built a few state-of-art photographic hides, all underground and equipped with air-conditioning and comfortable seats. Those "five star bunkers" are specifically designed for either morning or afternoon light, and one can get close to avian species and wildlife without being seen, therefore no interference or stress on the other side of the glass. Yes, we took images through glass panels, and unlike in a zoo the animals/birds were free and the photographers were in "captivity":bg3:.

It felt so good to see and not be seen! At some point a hammerkop came so close, his wings splashed water droplets onto the glass and we had to wait a while until it dried up, oxpeckers fed their babies so close that our big lenses would not focus, I dashed for my macro lens at some point! We also had opportunities to photograph warthogs and vervet monkeys, as well as impala drinking, cannot count the number of avian species seen and photographed - what bliss! We were there only for a few hours, arrived early morning but missed the leopard drinking by only minutes...Saw cheetah on our way out and found some wild dog spoor (tracks), hope to see them next time...

For those who are interested to have this experience, kindly note that the hides have just been built and we were invited for a preview, we were told the Reserve opens on the 4th of July and over the next few days we shall add a link to their website from http://www.gappimages.com Contact us via the website or send us a pm via BPN if you need to know more.

Techs: Nikon D3S
Nikon 500 F4
ISO 2000
F6.3
1/1250

A minute crop and selective sharpening (for web) at low percentage.

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gabriela looks great for a minute edit:w3.
Nice colors, great details and sharp were it counts the most. Like overall tonality and the low POV .
Overall i would add a fraction brightness to the whole frame , excluding the real HL . Personally i do find the crop a tad tight and would like to see the full hard as reflection in the water , if you have it.
And your usual good story and very informative infos rounding everything up ………… :5.

Would like to go there :w3…….. sooner or later.

Cheers Andreas

 

[Morkel Erasmus]

Oh yes, was waiting for these! Love the eye contact and killer angle. Light was great and contrast/details look super, Gabriela.
Maybe consider a very slight CW rotation? Perhaps an illusion, but just looking at the water level. I am off to Zimanga in a little over 2 weeks for 4 nights - I hope to be luckier with that leopard drinking! :5
Post some more when you can?

 

[Loi Nguyen]

Gabriela, air-conditioned bunker and shot thru glass! I think he IQ is really good and I wouldn't have been able to tell that this image was shot thru glass. I think the crop is not quite wide enough, but not quite tight enough, IMHO. I would sugegst to take off soem fo the bottom say go for a 16:9 format to bring the eye down for a more intimate look. It might work. Loi

 

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

What a nice shot, Gabriela! I'll add my vote for a wider crop but it's a great shot regardless - amazing details in that stare!
I'm also waiting for Zimanga to open their gates but looking at all the facilities, my biggest fear is that it would be priced way out of the reach of most South Africans... :bugeyed:

 

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Hi Gabriela, this image is really stunning, it has amazing clarity. I love those eye's and rich colours. The vervet hand on the rock works so nicely, great composition. Our last morning was also special. Shot about 2000 vulture images with stunning light. We also loved spending time with you and Andre. It turned out to be a special weekend, thanks again, we love it :bg3:

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Friends, thank you for feedback and comments, really appreciated.

Andreas, this is almost FF and a tad taken off the LHS to eliminate a more unsightly rock, a straight edge that was not to my liking - these days I avoid cloning at any cost. I had a bit more on the bottom of the image but did not like the square look. Many more shots and some babies too, just picked this to post because I liked the hand resting on the little boulder and the look on the subject's face. Andreas, we will make sure to book when you get here in October, we go together, Andre and I are burning to go back to Zimanga anyway!

Morkel-thank you, thought it might need a tad rotation when I looked at it last night but was not sure, I actually see this better now when looking at the thumbnail, glad you mentioned it, will rotate a tiny bit. And I will post some more images, got a lot of avian stuff as well. Eish, I am sure you will see the leopard, and I am a tad jealous already:t3

Thank you very much Loi, that is one special one-way glass and the images are indeed sharp, one has to push up the ISO though ( you lose about one F-stop when shooting through it). So the morning started at 5000 ISO and as the light got better we adjusted accordingly. Regarding crop - your suggestion suits me, I actually contemplated doing so and I might still post two versions with different crops, to see which one you guys like more.

Tobie, state-of-the-art hides like this are very expensive to build; you will soon be able to look at the fees and register on the website and decide for yourself whether it is affordable or not. For someone like myself who works from Monday to Saturday and has to plan a holiday one year in advance (and only go on leave for two weeks at a time) this is a blessing, I can go to a place like this for the day and return with enough images to last me for months. Not to mention the experience! I came back with over 2000 images Sunday afternoon, deleted some but still some 1800 to go through...This is stuff one does once in a while:w3...and did I mention there are wild dogs there too?

Chat soon, thanks everyone for your input, more where this came from, have a wonderful day!

Kind regards,

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Vivaldo!

So glad to hear from you, we enjoyed your company tremendously and had such a wonderful time, we must do this again sometime:w3. Cannot wait to see your vultures, makes me think I must go back there and spend some time in the other hide... Please send me a pm when you post, don't want to miss those images!

PS Thank you for those delicious Italian foods, Andre is munching on a salami sandwich right now as I am writing to you...

Warmest regards,

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

• GABRIELA PLESEA
• GABRIELA PLESEA
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.0 (Macintosh)

Hi Gabriela will look forward to Oct to go underground………..

Just a quick example what just one click of a button can do and a 30 sec brush work to remove the action from BG

A second will follow in a minute , just received an action ……….

Cheers Andreas

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

• GABRIELA PLESEA
• GABRIELA PLESEA
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.0 (Macintosh)

The second one

WDYT ?

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Andreas,

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to improve my image, I really appreciate it. I took some time to compare the OP with the RP's, since the changes looked so subtle - after much pondering I decided I like your first RP best, let us see if anyone thinks otherwise; such delicate touch from you Andreas, will look again when I get home tonight, last night I was busy replying to you and when I was about to click "Post Reply" the Internet connection was gone. So sorry to take so long to reply, and thank you once again!

Have a beautiful day!

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gabriela ,
it is no trouble to improve someone else's image , it is a pleasure !!!! to do so , specially when the creator is happy with the "improvement" :w3 :bg3:.

This image need ,if it needed , only subtlety changes because it is already looking good.

Chers Andreas

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

...which makes me think it would be fun and very interesting to go all three of us - you and Andre and myself - to Zimanga in October before the Kalahari trip, take images of the same subjects at the same time, then do some PP work together, and later apply our minds and see what we can come up with in terms of processing! I shall not ask you to share with me your special PP secrets ( I know you have some:w3), just good honest crit and hopefully a memorable experience for us all!

Have a great week-end Andreas, thank you once again for your input and for your time-trully appreciated!

Kind regards,

 

[Rachel Hollander]

HI Gabriela - still away so won't comment on color or contrast. Love the comp and the low pov. What a great opportunity and you took full advantage of it. Well done.

TFS,
Rachel

 

[Rudi van den Heever]

This is super Gabriela! Eye contact, super low angle, great light and that smooth water! :Whoa!: for present purposes I will just remove the little spot beneath the mouth on the reflection, as it tends to steal the eye...

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

Rachel! Hello!

So glad to hear from you!

Thanks for finding the time to take a look and for your kind comments:w3, wishing you a wonderful time and lots and lots of amazing sightings and pics! Can't wait to see the images you bring back:bg3:...we miss you on BPN:tinysmile_shy_t:

Warmest regards,

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

Good evening Rudi, and thank you so much for viewing and comments - so kind of you.

I saw the spot and wondered whether I should remove it or not, thought it had to be a reflection of that little water droplet on the muzzle? There are in fact two spots, just realised now. Will try darken them, make them almost disappear...I see they are more prominent in Andreas's versions (Andreas and his magic tricks:bg3.

Warmest regards,

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gabriela , think it is a very large dust bunny on your Nikon sensor :w3, that became amplified by my magic:bg3:.

You should not say i have magic tricks in my arsenal , i just know my tools …………….. better than others :t3, or try to know them better :t3 , but i am close to perfection ……….. ah no magic :eek3: or is just a tool ???????? You make me puzzled .

Lots of funny wishes from me to you , have a great weekend i am very busy with family stuff .

Ps look at the Zimanga Oxpecker

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

Andreas! I was just busy replying to one of your images when I saw your reply:bg3:...Nope, no dust bunny, the brighter spot on the left is a tiny butterfly and the bigger one is a reflection of a water droplet:bg3:...By the way, Nikon was very kind to clean and service my equipment...for free!

I haven't got many tools, I rely on basic software and do very little processing, no tricks, not even cloning these days...I keep it simple and let others do the work, often waiting for you to add the perfect touch:t3, and you do have the touch-Thank You my Friend! Enjoy spending time with family, have a marvellous week-end, see you soon, and I am really grateful for your input:5

Kind regards,

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Neat image Gabriela, small world we were talking about this location the other day, hope to see more. Sorry can't do too much, limited capacity on network :w3

TFS
Steve

Hyenas say good night