Tusker @ Salt Pit

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Shot this Tusker at Kabini over the weekend, we watched it for a while and it looked calm and was busy with salt intake. It is also good to know that the forest officials regularily supply the salt at these pits, its a important nutrition for all animals.

Shooting Date/Time 11/1/2009 7:05:48 AM
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/125
Av( Aperture Value ) 4.5
ISO Speed 400
Lens EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Focal Length 105.0 mm

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice enviornment image. Liked the hazy look of the morning. I think there is a slight tilt in the image, you can correct that. Thanks for sharing.

[Bibhav Behera]

Nice image. Agree with Mrudul about the straightening. I have a suggestion. Do try it and see if the results come better with it. Here the surrounding is bright, therefore on converting to B/W and increasing contrast, the elephant has become nearly black. I would suggest first toning down the highlights in the coloured image. and then converting to B/W. You can then increase the contrast which would provide nice midtones. Just a suggestion. :)

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Bibhav your suggestions are most welcome and valued, I will surely try it out tonight once I am back home.

Mrudul - I am using Photoshop ver 7, I don't think there is option to correct the tilt, or probably I am unaware, pl advice. I also have Ligthroom 2.5 if the feature of correcting is tilt available in this let me know.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Here the surrounding is bright, therefore on converting to B/W and increasing contrast, the elephant has become nearly black. I would suggest first toning down the highlights in the coloured image. and then converting to B/W. You can then increase the contrast which would provide nice midtones. Just a suggestion. :)
Bibhav,
Have you tried this in lightroom?

Praveen,
For straigtening the horizon in lightroom, please check this thread.
http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1510

It should be a part of your overall workflow.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Bibhav Behera]

Yea, I have tried it a couple of times, although I havent made any b/w images recently. So what I said was what I used to do in Photoshop. By the midtones I meant overall the image wouldnt look too contrasty. :)

[Bibhav Behera]

@ Praveen, I just learnt that that the order of processing doesnt matter in lightroom, so you can do it in any sequence :) . but do try toning down the highlights. Sorry for the erraneous tip. In photoshop the sequence would matter.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

When I was using Raw Shooter (it was sold off to Adobe), at that time I used to follow a sequence, as it used to matter. Even now I follow a sequence like first setting the white balance, black point, then fil light etc. Lightroom uses parametric processing. So all the changes that you do is taken as a whole and then the software decides the optimal path for processing.

In black and white, we can do subtle changes and the mood will change a lot. In this image, the blacks in the hind leg portion has lost details. Opening up the shadows will help.

[Anuradha Nautiyal]

Hello Praveen,

This is a nice Tusker image.. a good close-up .. I like the way its trunk is coiled inside... How does the image look in colour ??? I would love to see it in colour ..