It was probably our second visit to Rocky Mountain NP when I first saw elk along Trail Ridge Road. So, when we returned to Rocky Mountain for the third time, I knew we’d be driving along the same road. Sure enough, we spotted another herd of elk nearly at the exact location. On a different day, however, as we drove along Fern Lake Road towards the Pool trailhead, we came upon a large herd of elk. On the opposite side of the road, this majestic elk was alone and bathing in the soft, falling rain. It was close to the road and provided me with ample time to make photos without even leaving the car. We were in awe of how large and serene it looked. I could hear the lyrics in the air: “Oh, how I love the rainy days / And the happy way I feel inside.”
Specific Feedback Requested
Any feedback is appreciated. For example, is saturation ok? With the small drizzle falling, the image may appear softer in some areas.
Nice! A buck in charge for sure. Quite relaxed and somehow still imposing. It’s that rack. The soft grasses adds to the feeling of rest. I’d have been tempted to clone away the bit sticking up sort of in the middle of him, but that’s just me. I really like the wet fur - terrific textures and color range.
Very nice photo of this beautiful elk. I think the saturation is fine. It blends in nicely with the rainy day. I love how the head of the elk is tuned if to say “who’s encroaching on my territory”. I like the grasses surrounding the elk and textures on the elk. I agree with @Kris_Smith that I would probably clone out that long blade of grass sticking up in the middle of his back. I also like your song, Egidio.
Thank you both, @Kris_Smith and @Donna_Callais , for your feedback and suggestion. Are you referring to the single grass stalk rising near the elk’s belly or those near its neck? I did clone out a couple of small rocks in the background because they were small and distracting. However, the grass near the elk was left in its natural state. Thanks again.
Yes, I’m talking only about the one blade of grass that would be straight up from his belly. It’s lighter than the others so my eye catches it. Really no big deal.
@Egídio I noticed some small areas of strange texture in the ULC and upper right hand side of the image that I find a bit distracting in the full size image. Not sure if this is an artifact of noise removal process or cloning out the rocks. I did a very quick content aware fill in PS to reduce these textures in the out of focus area.
I do like the feel of the image and the pose of the elk. Well done.
Bryan, thanks for the edit you did. On the ULC there was no cloning. All I did there was to reduce the saturation on one of the small bushes (the one closest to the left side). In the original photo, the green saturation was very strong and distracting. As for the URC, there was a small rock I cloned out using LR. Perhaps I should have used PS content-aware fill for a better job. I need to use that more often for cloning instead of LR. Thanks for taking the time to edit and comment. I appreciate your time and effort.
What a fine portrait - I love the gleam on his nose and the sheen of his neck. (I still enjoy Neil Sedaka,going strong with his mini-concerts on YouTube!)
Egídio, I like the mix feeling that you’ve captured of this big bull being very wet but still stately that you’ve captured. I wouldn’t clone out any of the grasses around him as they’re very much part of the scene. I do see the strange looking areas in the upper left and along the right edge that Bryan points out, that show more sharpness and contrast than their surroundings.
@Mark_Seaver , thanks for your feedback and specific suggestions. I do see the odd areas on both upper corners. It was sloppy on my part not to examine those areas closely after my edit. I’ll try to fix them and repost the image. I am trying to remember the sequence of events I followed for the edits. I am inclined to think that the artifacts were added when I took the image outside of LR into another software (Luminar). As for the grass blades surrounding the elk, I agree with you. I know that nature is not always perfect or ideal to what we may think may make the photo better. It’s all in the eye of the beholder.
@Kris_Smith , @Donna_Callais , @Mike_Friel , @bryannelsonca , @Mark_Seaver – Thank you all for your thoughtful feedback and suggestions. I posted a re-edit attempting to clear the artifacts on the URC and ULC. Also, I removed the long grass blade. When removing that, others nearby began to become more obvious. Oh well…
