Hi Tim. You asked for my detailed view on this picture. I will do my best.
If it remains in its present format I would remove the light area on the top edge as its distracting. I feel that it has too many things going on and if it were mine, I would crop to isolate the two fighting heads, but that would depend on the definition of the image…..simply, does it have enough pixels.? If it remains in its present format I might try a gentle vignette to contain the subject matter, and whatever you decide, the foaming water below the heads, and the rest of the water, in fact the whole image might benefit from a very gentle tone mapping to bring out the detail. In the spirit of trying things out I would look at a mono version. The image is just fine in terms of its tonal range, so these suggestions are aimed at maximising the impact of the subject matter, and the details of form and textures. In summary, your title is ‘Fighting’, yet this only takes up a smallish area of the total scene, yet it would have true impact if it almost filled the frame. This is just one view, and there are many other possible development routes. Hope this is o.k. With you, regards, John.
Hi John, Thank you kindly for putting together so many fine suggestions. I’m going to go in and work with the image with two things in mind. One for the competition, which limits my changing the image by cropping, dodging, burn, and sharpening. The other for possible sales which is only limited, as you pointed out, by the density of the pixels. Your suggestion on the naming issue is important. Changing the name will leave more of the image. I’m considering “Disturbance in the Neighborhood” might as an alternative. I’ll take down the glare at the top. I’ve got to investigate more about “tone mapping” using LR5 and/or PSCC. There should be lots of tutorials on that subject available on the web. The vignette gives me additional options for the non competition image but changing it to a mono version could work wonderfully for the competition. That will be one of the first things I’ll try. John, thank you for spending the time looking closely at this image and making very constructive suggestions. Tim
You are very welcome Tim. I will only ever critique a photo if invited to do so.
I have used Photomatix Pro for tone mapping of individual images, though it’s primary function is for combining HDR images. In Photoshop you can achieve a similar effect by using unsharp mask set at about 50 pixels. More recently I have been using Nik Color Efex Pro 4 which has a filter called Bleach Bypass to good effect. Of course with all these it’s very easy to overdo things. The basic intention is to increase the relative surface detail by increasing the contrast ratios within each area of the picture. If this is done using layers, the effect can be used selectively in different parts of a picture. Hope this is some help.
John, thank you for the insight. I do use NIK and I’ll try the Bleach Bypass filter. I really need to get back to my PS training. I’ve been focused on LR5 and have forgotten a lot of what I should be using in PSCC. I did try the b&w and found that the pink mouths of the hippos lost their impact. I tried adjusting contrast and the color sliders but could not get the adjustments correct. I think I need to use a selective adjustment brush to enhance the mouths. Still more work to do on these images. I got distracted on three images that I took with me to a photo salon that has been very helpful. One of those images is the one I posted today of “Rain on the Serengeti”. The members of the salon liked the image and help guide me on how to enhance the rain falling from the dark clouds. Thanks again for your help.
Tim
That’s a very appealing image of the Serengeti which to my mind is another candidate for B/W, and could be very dramatic, so try the bleach bypass filter, or some of the grainy filters in Silver Efex.
Photographs by Timothy S. Allen 
Great shot =)
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Thank you – I was digging through my archives for nature related images and came across this one from 2008.
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Fantastic!
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Thank you
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I agree. It’s a great shot.
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Patricia thank you
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Hi Tim. You asked for my detailed view on this picture. I will do my best.
If it remains in its present format I would remove the light area on the top edge as its distracting. I feel that it has too many things going on and if it were mine, I would crop to isolate the two fighting heads, but that would depend on the definition of the image…..simply, does it have enough pixels.? If it remains in its present format I might try a gentle vignette to contain the subject matter, and whatever you decide, the foaming water below the heads, and the rest of the water, in fact the whole image might benefit from a very gentle tone mapping to bring out the detail. In the spirit of trying things out I would look at a mono version. The image is just fine in terms of its tonal range, so these suggestions are aimed at maximising the impact of the subject matter, and the details of form and textures. In summary, your title is ‘Fighting’, yet this only takes up a smallish area of the total scene, yet it would have true impact if it almost filled the frame. This is just one view, and there are many other possible development routes. Hope this is o.k. With you, regards, John.
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Hi John, Thank you kindly for putting together so many fine suggestions. I’m going to go in and work with the image with two things in mind. One for the competition, which limits my changing the image by cropping, dodging, burn, and sharpening. The other for possible sales which is only limited, as you pointed out, by the density of the pixels. Your suggestion on the naming issue is important. Changing the name will leave more of the image. I’m considering “Disturbance in the Neighborhood” might as an alternative. I’ll take down the glare at the top. I’ve got to investigate more about “tone mapping” using LR5 and/or PSCC. There should be lots of tutorials on that subject available on the web. The vignette gives me additional options for the non competition image but changing it to a mono version could work wonderfully for the competition. That will be one of the first things I’ll try. John, thank you for spending the time looking closely at this image and making very constructive suggestions. Tim
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You are very welcome Tim. I will only ever critique a photo if invited to do so.
I have used Photomatix Pro for tone mapping of individual images, though it’s primary function is for combining HDR images. In Photoshop you can achieve a similar effect by using unsharp mask set at about 50 pixels. More recently I have been using Nik Color Efex Pro 4 which has a filter called Bleach Bypass to good effect. Of course with all these it’s very easy to overdo things. The basic intention is to increase the relative surface detail by increasing the contrast ratios within each area of the picture. If this is done using layers, the effect can be used selectively in different parts of a picture. Hope this is some help.
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John, thank you for the insight. I do use NIK and I’ll try the Bleach Bypass filter. I really need to get back to my PS training. I’ve been focused on LR5 and have forgotten a lot of what I should be using in PSCC. I did try the b&w and found that the pink mouths of the hippos lost their impact. I tried adjusting contrast and the color sliders but could not get the adjustments correct. I think I need to use a selective adjustment brush to enhance the mouths. Still more work to do on these images. I got distracted on three images that I took with me to a photo salon that has been very helpful. One of those images is the one I posted today of “Rain on the Serengeti”. The members of the salon liked the image and help guide me on how to enhance the rain falling from the dark clouds. Thanks again for your help.
Tim
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That’s a very appealing image of the Serengeti which to my mind is another candidate for B/W, and could be very dramatic, so try the bleach bypass filter, or some of the grainy filters in Silver Efex.
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Yes yes to be seen soon. Thank you.
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