While working on a cup of coffee, I looked out at our bird feeders and a very disheveled, large raccoon was snuffling beneath the bird feeders. I made a quick dash for my rig and ventured outside. The raccoon slowly climbed up a nearby tree and began to check me out. I waited for the raccoon’s head to be almost within the shadow and it gave me a cute pose. The grass and stuff on the nose were from digging around in the ground. The raccoon does look like it had just awakened…
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Pertinent technical details or techniques:
D500 200-400mm f4 (1/500 sec at f10, ISO 1400, lens at 240mm). Topaz DeNoise, Levels, Shadows and Highlights, Brightness & Contrast, TK’s Luminosity Masks on Midtones with curve adjustment, Crop for comp. Enjoy
Thank you @terryb, @Kris_Smith, @linda_mellor , and @Keith_Bauer. I went back to my RAW file and re-applied my Lightroom edits to get the histogram adjusted for the closest to ideal presentation. I Then applied Brightness & Contrast and finished it with Topaz Adjust. I chose the Dark Mood settings and then pulled back the opacity of my working layer to bring out some of the warm tones in the fur. I also re-cropped it tighter to remove most of the bright portion of the branch on the LH side. And I think that the image looks a lot better. The value of these critiques cannot be measured and are essential to our craft. Once again , thank you.
…Jim
Is this a composite?
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Oh the many times I’ve done the camera dash - to the point where I keep the it w/the long lens on the table so I can grab it faster than if it’s in the gear closet downstairs!
Crop looks good although I’d shave the sunlit bark on the left. Also maybe deepen the blacks and the shadows for some contrast.
Great capture, Jim. love the detail you’ve gotten in the fellow coat and the lighting on it’s ears. Perhaps just a tad more contrast, as @Kris_Smith suggested, just to create a bit more depth. Nicely seen.
Thank you, @Jim_Zablotny , not only for your explanation on the process you used, but also for thoughts on the value of the critiques given here at NPN. They are most essential to me in my photographic journey. My hope is someday I will have enough experience to be able to share here as others have done so graciously for me. Thanks again.
Hi Jim, I like the second and third posts for the increased contrast in the racoon. These critters are not out and about in the day very often . I too would burn down the highlights in the limbs and the informative comments and your information is the reason I appreciate NPN. Thanks for sharing.
Wayne
