Arctic Wolf. C&C welcomed

Hi all,

I took this shot of an Arctic Wolf at Omega Park, in Montebello Province of Québec, under very bright lighting. The white fur against the white snow is quite the challenge, but I'm quite pleased with the results.

But since there is always room for improvements, please let me know if I could have done differently, either on site, or later in PP.

On site: XT with 70-200L + Sigma 1.4 TC, ISO 400, f/8 and 1/1600sec.
in PP: slight RAW adjustments, levels, about +10 saturation, selective saturation of the eyes.

http://pages.videotron​.com/grabe/_MG_0793%20​copy.jpg

Thanks in advanced

That is really nice. Wildlife photography is not my forte, so I won't offer any crit. However, I think you done very well to expose this properly. It must be very difficult to get a shot like this exposed pefectly as you did. Well done.

Yes, I agree, the exposure is dead on. That is, the placement of values is right where they should be.

What a handsome brute! The eyes look great.

Nothing special one way or the other about the composition, although if I could see his legs all the way to the ground, it would be better. I always complain about things having proper foundation.

Thanks Alan and Robert. Much appreciated

I have a lot more pictures here of last Friday's outing at Omega Park here: http://www.pbase.com/r​gravel/parc_omega

It was such a beautifull day.

I really like the shot.

When I saw it this morning I said, "Wow! Wish THAT were mine!"

Just a couple ticky-tac things. For my eyes, there is not quite enough density. I would have preferred a bit more texture on the dog. Seemed as though it was over exposed 2/3rds of a smidgen. Also, a but of non-contributing space on the left and top of the frame. And it feels off bubble as well.

So I took the liberty. I rotated it clockwise 2° or 3°, and cropped out the spare space. Then when I darkened it up I saw that the pup was definitely yellow-white and the snow was blue-white. I selected them individually and played with the hue and this is the result.

What'ca think?

Rad


OOPS!

It was brought to my attention that I edited and reposted your shot without verifying that your Edit Preference was turned "on". Sorry, my mistake. I should have been paying closer attention. I have removed the shot. If you would be interested in seeing it, please turn your Edit Preference to "on". If you don't feel comfortable doing that, and still want to see it, send me a PM and I will PM it back to you.

BTW, I was told it was a "Nice edit by the way!"

Rad

Hi.

I have just turn my edit ON.

Thanks

OK, here is what I came up with. Again, apologies for my presumptuousness.

Rad

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

The original shot is superb and I would like to ask rgravel what steps he took to cope with such a difficult exposure situation - I don't think 'auto'would have worked very well!

The editing here has managed to improve even such an excellent photo - congratulations are due to both!

rgravel wrote:
Thanks Alan and Robert. Much appreciated
I have a lot more pictures here of last Friday's outing at Omega Park here: http://www.pbase.com/r​gravel/parc_omega
It was such a beautifull day.

These photos are WONDERFUL - I particularly like those of the wolves: it's heartening to see the animals in spacious natural surroundings - it seems a very good zoo.

Great photo. The exposure is dead on. I Like what you did in your original PP.
Would only suggest you try applying this local contrast adjustment (to the original before re-sizing for the web) USM 15 or 16(you decide what gives best result); radius 60.5; treshold 7.

It may help to separate the subject from the snow, by enhancing the edges.

I also like what Radtech has done with the cropping and hue adjustment.

Hi and thanks.

LOL, your right...auto would not have worked, or at least, it would have given a different result

All my shots were done in RAW, ISO 400, about 1/1,600 shutter speed, around f/8, using my 70-200L f/4 with a Sigma 1.4 TC. This particular shot didn't require the TC as the wolve was close enough, but it was on the camera. Maybe I should have taken the time to remove it and try a wider apperture to isolate the wolve even more.

Thanks Rad. I like the cropping you did; everything seems more balanced.

I also like the fact that the fur is more evident, more contrasty, although it wasn't that grey in color.

But considering the fact that you edited an already edited, highly compressed file, I think you did a great job.

I'm taking a course at the moment (Photoshop for Photographers) because I'm kind of new to all this, and one of my biggest problem is doing specific selections. It always looks fake; too obvious that I did make a local selection. In this case it would be isolating the wolve from the background, and its very difficult to do around the fur.

But I'll get better at it I'm sure

Thanks for the tips

Robert, what a magnificent creature and a fine exposure. The only thing I find wanting about the picture is, I wish you'd got all of him! One question. Did you use any exposure compensation when you took the picture?

Now that you and Robert mentioned it, I too wished I had taken all of him. I have a few more here http://www.pbase.com/r​gravel/parc_omega showing him and other wolves full frame.

I shot in M mode, kept the meter around +1, and I checked the histogram after each shot to make sure I wasn't blowing the highlights.

Thanks for commenting and looking.