I took this image during the Fall rutting season in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley. The bull on the left was one of the most impressive male bison I had ever seen and his power just overwhelmed the bull on the right. The harsh midday lighting and dusty Lamar environment made the colors a bit more drab than I would have liked . I should have also used a faster shutter speed (1/1000s) as there is a bit of movement in the left bull that makes him less sharp than the right one.
Specific Feedback Requested
I imagine the colors can be improved so any suggestions would be welcome.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Canon 1Dx
Canon 300 f/2.8 IS I with X2TC at 600mm
I did find the colors on the buffalo too red. I did two lights and one darks mask (If you don’t use masks you can do a select by color range) to get better definition on the two bulls to pull them away from the BG. I also did a high pass filter sharpen on the left side bull’s eye to try to equalize the strength of both eyes. Most of what I did in PS could be done using the new masking tools in ACR.
Chris’s edits work for me. With the eyes visible and dirt flying, the image has plenty of drama. I would not sharpen it any more as the image has enough sharpness as presented. well done…Jim
Dvir, it’s a good action shot, with the heavy pushing and dust/dirt flying. I agree that the your post is too red both in the bison and in the grasses. Chris’s adjustments look right. You can probably get the same result by reducing the saturation.
Thank you for the reply and editing suggestions Chris! I agree with you that it was too red and also that the background and contrast between the background the the bison could be improved so I went back into photoshop and used some luminosity masks on the background plus played with the colors and contrast and got to this new edit.
Getting a good view of both bison’s eyes is one of the biggest challenges in these moments, so I applaud you for doing that while still capturing some peak action. The mirrored round shapes are really effective as well. I’d have no issue if you cropped out the dark strip at the top… I think you could get away with that without coming too close to the bison, even if a slight bit of CCW rotation was needed (it wouldn’t throw off the balance, IMO).
Chris’s fur colors do seem a bit more accurate on my screen.
@Max_Waugh Thank you for taking the time to reply. Here is a new edit based on your suggestions cropping off the top. I also tweaked the colors a bit further though I do feel I can’t quite get the colors on the bison to look right (especially the fur on their shoulders).
