Wildebeest + Repost

An interesting subject for B&W, find the dust rising from the hoofs very interesting, creating lots of atmosphere. Could work very well as pano too !
Jagdeep Rajput

Neil, I keep coming back to look at this one, and that is a good thing! My first reaction was based on a stereotypical bias, that "animals going away from the camera are never as interesting as those coming towards the camera." I have changed my mind and now believe you have shown us a fine exception.

Specifically, B&W proves effective with these near-silhouetted wildebeest, especially with the back-lighted dust at their feet, which is visually interesting and demonstrates movement of feet and of wind. I like that they are angling across the frame and that you managed to time some good separation between the individuals in the brightest part of the dust. The huge spreading tree in the upper right adds scale and sense of place. The smaller "sister" tree in the upper left balances the near one by creating distance...3-D space for the wildebeest to enter! At first I was unsure about the inclusion of the branches in the extreme upper left, but now think they are not a distraction and in fact create a bit of an illusion of a canopy or framing arch with the larger tree. Another thing I notice is the mysterious puff of dust on the lower left side, implying the proximity of other animals. The lying down wildebeest would have been unfortunate in it location within this composition, but given that its distance and lighting render it much lighter than the walking ones, it mostly blends into the surroundings and becomes a minor stopping point for the eye, interesting but not overly distracting.

The image is nicely divided in three horizontal bands of brightness. At a distance or in the small size I like that they are of approximate equal width. However, if this is printed in a more appropriate large size I think maybe the dark foreground, given its lack of subject matter, could be trimmed by about a third and it will serve to nicely anchor the foreground. IMO, this is worth of the large print! Good work and thanks for sharing it.

I like this a lot Neil. I also like Lon's well thought through analysis of the image. Largely I agree with him, but the lying down wildebeest is more of a distraction to my eye than it apparently is to his. However, maybe not so much if it would not have been so close to the edge of the frame.

Thanks you guys, I always appreciate the input.

...but the lying down wildebeest is more of a distraction to my eye

Vincent, I gave a lot of consideration to that wildebeest and although he would be much better facing into the image, I kept him/her in the image to give the others and the viewers eye a pointless destination. It didn't matter wether they kept walking or laid down, they were not getting out of the wind, or out of frame. I try not to do much cloning out of items in scenes, but this was and is a consideration still. The crop from the bottom works well for me and I will be updating my portfolio image of it soon.
Cheers.
Neil

Very cool conversion here Neil.. It works really well for me. For me the lying down wildebeest could gosince I think it changes the implied story (at least for me), from 'travelling into forever' or with it sitting there to, 'walking to the next bush'.. Just my 2 cents

Hi Neil,

I quite like this shot and how it's put together. There's a lot of visual interest here - everything from the 3 bands of varying brightness, the dust being kicked up by the hooves of the wildebeest, and more. I quite like the B&W conversion (both technically and aesthetically) - tho' whether or not it's better than the colour version is impossible to judge without seeing it too. The individual laying down near the left edge of the frame gives me no grief at all - the first thing I thought of was "I wonder if it's going to tag on to the end of the line once they pass him/her?" and NOT "oh, that's a distraction."

My only suggestion here would be experimenting with cropping a little off the bottom - I'm thinking this image might be even a little stronger if presented slightly more "pano-ish" (and to my eye the width of that dark band adds just a tad too much visual weight to the bottom of the frame).

Cheers...thanks for sharing this...

Brad

Here is the original and the re-crop below.
Thanks for the input everyone.
Neil

If you squint real hard, you still can't see Kilimanjaro in the background