Zuka Buffalo

[Gabriela Plesea]

• NIKON CORPORATION NIKON Z 9
• NIKKOR Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S
• ƒ/5.6
• 400mm
• 1/1600s
• ISO 2000
• GABRIELA PLESEA
• Sun, 31 December 2023 9:02 AM
• ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 13.1 (Macintosh)

Dear friends,

There are very few things more conducive to internal conversations than a trip in the wilderness. Some kind of connection exists between what is in front of our eyes and the thoughts in our minds... this is where introspective reflections are born, or rather helped along by the shape of the landscape, by following a line of trees or even watching a buffalo herd grazing nearby.

On the last day of December my companion and I took a drive into the reserve in search for calm and inspiration. We were moving slowly taking in the beauty of the land and unwinding a little when there came a noise and a frantic rustle as if someone (or something) was rifling through a bed of leaves in desperate search for a valuable possession. It was a Buffalo. As we looked around we also noticed a few old dagga boys in the distance, lying down among the bushes and taking lazy mouthfuls of grass, chewing it as if it was gum.

Stirred by something or maybe noticing he had company the buffalo took off, circled the area around the vehicle then stopped right in front of it. We watched in silence as he took a few steps forward, head down in a threatening position. I grabbed my camera and managed a few frames before he took off again, missing the old Landrover by centimetres.

Nikon Z9
Nikkor 400mm F2.8 TC @ 400mm
ISO 2000
F5.6
1/1600s
+1 EV

Thank you for taking the time to view this image and read my story, I so appreciate it. Comments and critique welcome, as always.

Warmest regards,

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Nice to see something different Gabriela, and these guys always are so photogenic .

I quite like the way the path/track leads you to the Dagga boy and the fact the head is low slung. If you have it, a fraction more on the LHS to push the subject a bit more right for me. Techs look fine, but if he was moving towards you then having a raised front hoof would have been cool.

WB looks off, I think you pushed the greens a bit too much, plus I would loose the blue tinge. Getting more tonal depth in the blacks helps the old boy, plus you can get more 'clarity' within the green foliage that helps. The BKG is what it is, so no problems.

TFS
Steve

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much Steve,

Don't think I have more on the LHS but will certainly check. Did crop from the RHS to have the subject off centre. Have some frames with a front hoof off the ground but the buffalo's head is slightly lifted... so not as much impact.

Oh and I see the greens now, and the blues too, thank you, I'll fix it. Made some final adjustments on the laptop last night and it's not calibrated. Or maybe I just did not see it. Thought it look ok but obviously I was wrong. Will sort out the colours and see what I can do to the old boy, make him more prominent:bg3:

Will post an RP soon, once again thank you for your time and feedback:5

Warmest regards,

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriella, just a thought on the framing, so no worries, albeit you could add if you felt it helped. Always the way with animals, you get one thing right then there is something else that doesn't always follow.

Yes, don't tinker with the laptop and post, keep it to the big screen.

No rush, just take your time. BTW thanks for all that wet weather you sent across, flooding going down, but now is colder with possibilities of snow, might be fun on Monday? :S3:

Cheers for now.
Steve

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

• NIKON CORPORATION NIKON Z 9
• NIKKOR Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S
• ƒ/5.6
• 400mm
• 1/1600s
• ISO 2000
• GABRIELA PLESEA
• Sun, 31 December 2023 9:02 AM
• ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 13.1 (Macintosh)

Hi Gabriella, just a thought on the framing, so no worries, albeit you could add if you felt it helped. Always the way with animals, you get one thing right then there is something else that doesn't always follow.

Yes, don't tinker with the laptop and post, keep it to the big screen.

No rush, just take your time. BTW thanks for all that wet weather you sent across, flooding going down, but now is colder with possibilities of snow, might be fun on Monday? :S3:


Cheers for now.
Steve

Steve, I removed the blues and worked on the vegetation a bit. Don't mind posting what I have done so far but I think best if I go back to LR and start afresh if I want to get the colours and tonality right.

Had difficulty adding canvas on the LHS but eventually I got it right, still a bit of work to do, WDYT?

Did tinker with the laptop last night as the power went off at 8 pm... only came back around lunch time today, must have been a fault as load shedding is never so long.

And sorry about the wet weather, thought you needed it:t3 Let me know if there's snow, I'll pop in and we build a snowman:bg3:​

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[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, there are some things you can do in Lr, other elements need to be done in Ps, you cannot, actually NO ONE, can do all in one bit of Software, well apart from Ps which is still the King.

It looks better, but to get more in the dagga boy you need to jump into Ps.

Everything is hunkered down, KF sill around, two males, shooting for Grouse is coming towards the end, but back to some other stuff, but fingers crossed for some cool weather. Snowman, will leave that for next month. :bg3:

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you Steve,

As you know I do use both LR and PS...and have no other software. Need to look at this again, only made a few adjustments for now to fix the main issues.

Looking forward to some stunning KF and Grouse...the Snowman can wait, LOL.

Speak soon, and have a wonderful rest of the week,

Warmest regards,

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gabriela ...
Nice capture of the Buff making its way along the footpath ....
Love the contrasting tone / color combo of subject and surrounding , I am more than ok with the bushy non green BG .
You have edited it just " as shot " without any fancy stuff .... like a vignette to emphasize the subject , fully alright for me . The subject is dominant enough .
I do like the vivid greens and yellows more than the rather flat looking foliage in the RP . but the buff does look slightly better in the RP on the color and tonal front .
Just wondering why the foliage /grass is quite bright between the subject legs and outside of them ??!!!
Alwys cool to read your stories around the posted image ... a great talent of yours

TFS Andreas

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Andreas,

Thank you for feedback, much appreciated. Been trying various versions here to see what works. And yes no fancy stuff, not even a vignette, did not even think of it:tinysmile_shy_t: The simpler the better and it's quicker too. Especially when we are constantly threatened by Eskom keeping us in the dark. By the way, power going off here at 11pm:2eyes2:

Regarding brighter foliage, I noticed it as well and it's there in the RAW, do not know what caused it but I assure you it's not man made (or girl made!). I can see it looks a bit weird and suppose one can fix it, not sure it's worth it though and I have already moved on :bg3:

Lastly, I am glad you think the subject looks better in the RP. As of tonight I no longer process on my laptop as the colours are quite deceiving, also looking to buy a portable power station for the iMac Pro so I can work whenever I want.

So yes more images soon and more stories, do brace yourself:bg3:

Once again many thanks for viewing and comments Andreas,

Kind regards,

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Another impactful image Gabriela, he certainly looks like a powerful beast. I appreciate the difficulties encountered with WB and colours, I recall when I was there that I had casts and extra vibrant greens too, having said that the geens are genuinly pretty much in your face after rain. I particularly lie the detail on the subject - very well rendered.

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

Many thanks again, Jon.

I knew you'd appreciate my difficulty to reproduce the right colours as you've been here and experienced the 'after-the-rain-greens':bg3: We've had some more rain BTW...

Wishing you a lovely evening,

Warmest regards,