River Otter - 2nd Try

Gallery: WildlifePosted January 18, 2010178 views7 comments

Thanks for your comments on my last post (Posted: 01/14/10 at 10:04 am EST). I used them to re-process the picture to salvage the shot with a busy background. I cut down on the blue saturation of the reflections on the wet coat, and cropped less. One of the comments suggested that I darken the background. In my original post, I mentioned that I blurred the BG, but forgot to mention that I darkened it a bit, too. Looking at the thumbnail, I realized that the darker background contributed to the “dull” look of the image, so this time, I just did some minor burning of some of the BG highlights, but otherwise left it as bright as the original file. I think this version “pops” a bit more than my first time. Even if the BG is brighter, I think it just looks better.

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Cam Held on January 18, 2010 at 12:27 PM

Wayne,
I definitely think this is better! The background is still busy, but nothing you can do about it. The otter pops a lot more than before, and it all looks more natural, and less dull. I love his expression, and little whiskers! So cute! Good work!

-Cam

Registered on November 12, 2009, 59 Posts, 398 Comments

Comment posted by István Molnár on January 18, 2010 at 12:32 PM

Cool shot.

István

Registered on January 7, 2010, 114 Posts, 704 Comments

Comment posted by Sally King on January 18, 2010 at 3:03 PM

I love that it almost looks 3-D. I liked the previous post but I do think this one is even better. Would love to see one of these guys.

Registered on December 2, 2008, 416 Posts, 4450 Comments

Comment posted by JACK NEAL on January 18, 2010 at 10:25 PM

Looks good to me, Wayne. I would love to have a Otter of this quality in my set of pictures.

Registered on September 26, 2009, 131 Posts, 554 Comments

Comment posted by István Pénzes on January 19, 2010 at 8:03 AM

Wayne,

That's great! Three years ago I captured an Otter eating a fish, but your picture is much better.
Gratulations.

István Pénzes
Gyõr, Hungary

Registered on January 12, 2010, 35 Posts, 192 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on January 19, 2010 at 8:49 AM

Hi Wayne,

I like the full-on stare this otter is giving you - quite intense! I also like the positioning of the otter within the frame (vertically) - the otter is nicely "grounded" in this position.

You know, I'm going to go against the flow a little here and say that I think there is enough tonal range in the otter (and enough bright zones in the head region) to keep this image from going flat if you did darken the background somewhat. I totally realize there was nothing you could do during image capture to "get rid of" the busy background, but at it's current brightness level I think it stands out (distracts) more than it would if it were darkened. And, to be honest, in this image I think the otter would pop even more if you toned down the background. One other minor thing - on my monitor the head and neck region (and the whiskers in particular) look slightly over-sharpened.

Cheers...thanks for sharing this...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on January 19, 2010 at 10:35 AM

The framing and processing of the otter look better than on the first post Wayne. However, I think the darker BG in the original file suited it better. These things are all a matter of personal taste of course.

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments