Up Close and Personal
by Ashley Vincent
Canon EOS 7D, EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM + 2x Extender II @ 600mm, AV Priority @ f/5.6 (1/320 sec), +1/3 EV, ISO 640, Supported by Backpack, JPEG from RAW, Cropped about 20% from in total from upper, lower, and right-hand edges
This is the last one of the mini 3-part series of my Water Monitors of Lumpini Park; I do have more to share with you, but to hopefully keep interest fresh I'll show you a few other animals before getting back to these magnificent beasts ;^)
Although these Monitors evidently prefer to stick closer to the water, they're certainly not afraid to venture out onto the surrounding areas, though more likely to hunt for prey than merely for the pleasurable sensation of cool blades of grass tickling the underside of their feet ;^p
Like most creatures, they do have what I consider to be a comfort zone that usually will have them doing an about face if something larger than them, that they're not sure of, crosses into. That said, as I discovered, if you're lying prone on your belly and hardly moving at all, they do have a curious side that takes over and may possibly spur them forward to, well, I'm only guessing at this, but I'd say to see whether you're worth taking a nibble at.
So there I was, lying on the grass supporting my 300 + 2x TC with my backpack, thinking it doesn't get much better than this when, all of a sudden, the Monitor I'd been happily watching and taking the odd candid shot of turned and began heading directly toward me :^.
I can't honestly say I was scared – I did pretty well at the 100 metres when I was a kid and, with the right motivation, I reckon I can still outrun an oversized lizard … though I may revisit this thought should my travels take me to Komodo Island ;^p – all the same, my heart started beating to the rhythm of a different tune as I tried desperately to swing the lens left and right in time with the Monitor's head swings, that came with every stride forward, to zero in on it's eye.
Must have fired off 8 or 9 frames before thinking, “I like up close and personal but I certainly ain't no Steve Irwin!” and jumping back to my feet with hands raised in the air …... metaphorically speaking you understand; didn't want to look too much of a wimp in case anyone else was watching this spectacle unfold – LOL ;^p
Only two shots came out relatively close to what I was hoping for and, in truth, on neither of them did I acquire tack-sharpness on the eye, so I went a bit heavy – perhaps a bit too heavy – on sharpening.
Any thoughts and opinions regarding this and/or any other aspect of this image will be most welcome, thanks in advance :^)
Comments
14 commentsThat front right leg right under the chin is a distraction; you might try to blur it out a bit so the focus remains on the head and great eye.
Nice!
Sandy
As to the OOF legs, believe it or not, for all the countless times I've looked at this image, not once did I notice this until you guys pointed it out :^.
As to subject's right leg being a distraction from it's head as Sandy suggests, I have tried to blur that leg even more, but to my eye it simply looks to unnatural.
As to the greens, I actually toned them down some in PP, however, the grass really was that light tone and, as such, I didn't want to change much of that at all, besides, personally I feel the contrast between the darker Monitor and the lighter surroundings works quiet well, but that's just me ;^)
Vincent: Being well aware of my propensity for drawing out a story way too long for most people's taste, I figure the only way to increase the chances of more people having the patience to read all that I write is to make the stories at least a little entertaining. Not sure how many more I'll be able to win over in this way, but good to know I hit the mark every now and then, thanks for the confirmation ;^)
Interesting shot - the composition works well for me and the single biggest highlight to me is the raised left paw (and seeing those claws). To be honest, like you I'm not very bothered by the hind leg overlapping the tongue - to me the differential in sharpness relegates that hind leg to being at worst a mild distraction. You mentioned over-sharpening - to me the only area where this is a bit of an issue (and only a bit) is in the region of the left leg above the paw/claws - on my monitor that region looks a bit over-worked.
One further comment - to me the biggest technical nit (and it's not that big) is the fall-off in sharpness from mid-way down the snout through the length of the tongue. This is most noticeable on the larger version. I'm wondering if stopping down slightly (perhaps to f8 or so, even if it meant an increase in ISO, would have been the way to go (at ISO 640 you probably had a little more room to bump that). Stopping down would have brought slightly more of the foreground (and hopefully the rest of the snout and most of the tongue) in clearer focus and it would have had virtually no effect on destroying the smooth background - with a 600mm lens combo you could have stopped down to f16 and still not harmed the soft texture of the background. And, with any TC stopping down from shooting wide open will produce a sharper image (tho' commonly only a 2/3 to 1 stop is needed to approach maximum sharpness).
But overall quite a compelling image - thanks for sharing it!
Brad
PS: Your commentary definitely made me chuckle - the image of you sprinting away from the lizard that I conjured up was amusing (to say the least!!).
Brad: Well spotted my friend, on both accounts ;^)
Firstly, due to my inability to acquire perfect focus on the subject's eye as it lumbered toward me, the focus on this shot landed on it's front left leg and those dagger-like claws, which would make this a potentially prize-winning photo if ever someone suggests "Claws" for a Weekly Challenge theme - LOL ;^p
Seriously though, in retrospect I should have deselected that part from the other areas I worked Sharpening on, as this probably would have de-emphisised the misplaced focus.
Secondly, if I'd had even more presence of mind than I had for firing off a number of shot before the opportunity was completely lost, then yes, stopping down would have been a good decision to make; might also have allowed more sharpness on the eye!
One thing I would like to add though, is that the depth of the scales (not sure if this is what they're properly referred to, but I guess you know what I mean) on the heads leading down to the snouts of these creatures are nowhere nearly as accentuated as they are on the rest of their bodies, due to the fact that the scales graduating down to the snouts are far less prominently raised. Unless I've managed to acquire the right amount of DOF on the whole head and a good part of the body, sharpening the head in PP seldom helps make those head-to-snout scales pop out any better.
Real pleased you enjoyed the image overall and that I managed to elicit a chuckle from you by way of my storyline and the images they conjured up in your imagination :^)
Thanks for taking the time to view, underline the nits, and offer general appreciation for the image as a whole :^)