The Chase

Colour version. It's not that I don't like it in colour. Just did more for me personally in the monochrome.
Your thoughts?

Morkel, definitely the monochrome version. It's great how you brought out much more contrast in the cheetah.

I like the balance between the subjects going in opposite directions and the way they create two parallel lines. To me, the crop is the toughest choice here. I could see it working with a bit more space at the bottom (if the original frame allowed), and I'd also wonder about tightening the sides and shaving off the empty space a bit, merely because to me this is more about the shapes than the subjects themselves. But that's not to say those would be any better... just ideas that crossed my mind when I first looked at this. Looks like you had plenty of choices with this one, and I don't think any one would be significantly better or worse than the others (aside from your monochrome treatment, which is definitely better, IMO).

Max

Thanks Max.
Perhaps I should post the uncropped unprocessed file just for reference when making crop suggestions...

So maybe it's my imagination, or maybe you made a wee crop from the bottom. I don't see anything wrong with leaving those few pixels in, but let's face it, it's such a minor adjustment that it won't make a difference (unless you were purposely trying to crop out some of highlighted grass tones in the b/w version?).

Overall I think you went about this the right way, Morkel.

Max

Thanks Max. I ended up cropping a bit from the bottom for the rotation I had to make...

Thanks Morkel. Seeing the different variations has been a good learning experience for me. Besides that, it's a great image.

The BW version - no doubt about that. Crop makes sense too. SS and ISO not so much. Man, you can freeze a hummingbird with that!

Two small nits: the leg position of the cheetah looks awkward, and I'd clone out that dark blob below the left most springbok. And those blown out oof highlights at the bottom too. Hope that makes sense.

Marsel

Well, looks like the Springbok win this battle. It's an interesting photo for the differences presented between the two groups, in terms of direction, size and sharpness. This photo may be like one of those unusual foods or strong drinks that takes a bit of time for the palate to fully appreciate.

Hey Morkel,

Thanks for including colour version - helps a lot (and so does the uncropped version). No doubt about it for me - I definitely prefer the B&W version.

I like that this image is telling a bit of a story. It's not fully apparent why the cheetah is going one way and the prey are going in the opposite direction, but there's obviously some form of predator-prey interaction going on here. And the tension introduced by the opposing directions of travel adds considerable interest to the shot. This image makes one look twice (or more)...which is almost always a sign that it works. Well done.

You know, for me there's something about the original posted shot that negatively impacts my appreciation of it more than any tweaking of the crop - those blown out areas along the bottom of the frame that extend up to the feet of the springbok. And, when I look at the uncropped, unprocessed file I see no sign of over-exposed areas there - which implies to me that those blown out areas are a product of post-processing. And now that I've given it a closer look I can see those blown out areas are simply green(er) patches in the original...so they were introduced by pushing the greens/yellows during conversion (so retrievable with a little selective work in the conversion).

Cheers...

Brad

Thanks guys. I must say I was sloppy on those bottom patches. Will reprocess from scratch