Image taken at Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife refuge, near Denver, CO, where a hear of 170 buffalo thrive, along with deer, waterfowl, and other wildlife. A road winds its way through the Preserve. I took this image from inside my vehicle, he was checking me out as much as I of him.
Specific Feedback Requested
I processed the image in PS, increasing the blur in the background and used dehaze and clarity to capture some of the bull’s breathe on a cold afternoon.
Technical Details
Single shot, Nikon Z7, 1/200 sec F/6.3 ISO 800 70-20mm f/2.8 with w2x @ 400mm
This is a fine image of such a powerful and powerful looking beast!
I like the framing and the small snow flakes really helps with conveying the environmental conditions.
The pose is really good as well, although, I’m not sure if he was as intent on checking you out as it seems or could it be that he was in “The Zone” from relieving himself? Just kidding.
I’ve found that adding contrast while lowing the brightness does better at showing things like an animals breathe but that’s just me.
I find focus to be a little on the soft side on his eyes and the fur on his head, maybe from the atmosphere between you and the buffalo?
I done a little work on your image using contrast, brightness, I lowered the highlights to add separation between the bull and the BG, then brought down the black point just a little on the bull, the breathe still shows pretty well in my opinion.
Contrast can help with sharpening as well as the texture and clarity tools.
I went through a couple separate iterations of sharpening and noise removal using light steps for each iteration and it seemed to help without overdoing it (at least I hope I didn’t overdo it).
Anyway, I hope this helps, it’s an image well worth tweaking IMHO (and this really is just my opinion).
Merv, appreciate your critque and tweaks, that’s what I’m here for. Could not get this type of advise in several photo groups in FB; people just fish for likes…
Gary, for me, the “look” you captured on this bison is the most important thing. You got “the stare”! Even the way he is standing is like a challenge to you. That is fantastic!
I agree with J Rajput that the contrast needs to be handled delicately on this. I think I would prefer the contrast to be somewhere between your original and the redone version by Mervin. It’s kind of a personal thing to be sure.
Regarding the comment about having a bit more room at the bottom, I always try to back off on the zoom a little bit to leave that room. I can always crop the image a tiny bit in processing!!
BTW, the colors and texture in this image are great!!!
Just kidding.