The Nursery

Image Critiques Wildlife Critiques
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The Nursery
The Nursery2000×1331 573 KB

Earlier in the day at Ol Pejeta Conservancy we witnessed a lioness plunge into a herd of impala and kill the one who got stuck in mud. It was a quick death, and she then hauled it away to feed her two cubs. After that, we noticed how herd animals organized themselves defensively whenever they neared a spot where predators might find cover. I’d seen this before, among pronghorn along Antelope Road in the Tetons. At Ol Pejeta we came across this herd of impala at the end of the day, with all of the youngest tucked behind the adults, and everyone high alert as to what might be hiding in the dust.

Type of Critique Requested

  • Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
  • Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
  • Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.

Specific Feedback and Self-Critique

I was initially worried this would not work out because my lens was pointed directly towards the sun, with bright dust and backlight obscuring the subjects. I thought I understood what the tight grouping meant, so I kept shooting, hoping to capture an image that conveyed the idea of a protective wall of adults. What I’m least sure about is the color and contrast of the image. There isn’t much variation of color, and the harsh light could lead me to either drop the contrast to emphasize the dust, or bump the contrast to try to more separation between the bodies. There isn’t anything to be done about the feet at the bottom, as this is pretty much the whole frame.

Technical Details

1/2000 sec, f8, iso 9000, Nikon D850, Tamron 100-400 @ 300mm, processed in Lightroom . Photographed handheld while standing up in a Toyota Landcruiser.

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Joe,

I like the story you are telling here…about the little ones tucking in tight between the adults. I also have a soft spot for what looks like “parting shots”.

I think you have an opportunity here to play with really dramatic lighting and I would go for bringing the dust out. You could also try a tighter crop of just the littles one sin formation (although that changes your story) just to see another picture inside the picture.

In a situation like this, I would be under exposing to protect those whites and bring out the backlit drama more. You could have been at -2.0 especially on a D850 and created even more contrast.

You could try taking the highlights and whites down and bumping the blacks a bit to see if you can enhance the Impala even more.

I very much like these story telling shots about how nature does what it does. Great story!

Hope that is helpful.

Julie

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