Female bushbuck

[davidedric]

Simple portrait, but I think it has appeal. C&C always welcome.

Dave

[Shadowman]

That it does, nicely captured.

[Mike Buckley]

Gorgeous tones and composition! You might want to consider adding a slight vignette to give it more depth and concentration on the subject. If you decide to add it, be judicious rather than make it too intense.

[davidedric]

Thanks, Mike. It does have a vignette , must be too subtle!

Dave

[Rebel]

Very nice Dave, I'd definitely make the vignette a little less subtle!

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Mike. It does have a vignette , must be too subtle!

I usually dislike vignettes that are too blatant, so I would always err on the side of being too subtle rather than too blatant. Go with your own preference, of course.

[Geoff F]

Personally, Dave, I think the vignette is working against you here and is making the background appear too obviously bright in the central area which is distracting from the main subject.

I think I would gently 'mask in' some highlight reduction over the whole background area.

Then possibly try a little selective brightness added to just the subject area.

[FootLoose]

I wonder how a negative vignette would work on this scene.

[Brownbear]

Gorgeous image and moment... I'd crop just a wee bit off the left side to eliminate the one wee bright spot.

[John 2]

That's a cracker Dave. It's not often that a darker FG works against a brighter BG but for me at least, it does here. Just clone out that bright spot on the LHS and watch the sharpening halos around the head. Localised sharpening around the eyes and nose is all it needs.

[Donald]

I won't add to the pieces of advice given above. we always have our own interpretations of how an finished image should appear and it's a case of digesting all the helpful comments made and deciding which, if any, we wish to take on board.

What I will comment upon is the strength of the composition and the depth of field. Obviously the background is sufficiently far away that throwing it our of focus was not a huge challenge. But what you have done is ensured that the DoF was sufficient to ensure that not only all of the animal is in focus, but the bit of land around and in front of it (i.e. the other side of the animal as we look at it) is also in focus. That, I think, is what really makes this image.

[Mike Buckley]

It's not often that a darker FG works against a brighter BG but for me at least, it does here.

For me also. This is such a serene, natural setting that actually occurs quite often in nature. It's far easier to make an excellent photo when the background is darker than the subject, especially when the background isn't plain. Though dark backgrounds are more common in photos (I suspect because they're easier to deal with), this scene with the bright background is a gem in my book.

[davidedric]

Thanks, everyone, I'll be trying out some of those ideas later.

Another small talk on animal behaviour. Bushbuck are small woodland antelope who live in pairs, hence they don't have the rest of the herd to help look out for predators, mostly leopards. So, they tend to stand on termite mounds to keep their own look out, which is where this lady is. That's why the view is slightly upwards, rather than the usual downwards view that you get from a car.

Cheers, Dave

[IzzieK]

Interesting character, Dave...does the termites makes them feel protected or something? Anyway, good catch...

[Wavelength]

This is a superb image