South Africa – Page 30 – Jennifer Sawicky Photography

November 15, 2017

2017-11-15: Wordless Wednesday

November 5, 2017

2017-11-05: Before and After

I decided that this image would be good for a before and after post after finishing the editing, so today I just have the before and after images to share, not all the steps I took to get there.

This image was shot during sunrise whilst on a game drive at Ngala Camp in South Africa. It was quite surreal to have these massive storm clouds, the light from the sun rising, the moon visible and a rainbow all at one time. With so much going on, it was a challenging scene to deal with, and the image ended up rather flat and uninspired.

I decided to edit the single image using Aurora HDR Pro, as I find that the software is great in bringing out the detail and colour in an image, although it can be a little heavy handed at times. Herein lies the editing issue of course; trying to coax the best out of the image you have, without it ending up looking crunchy and radioactive. I layered two different presets within Aurora, blending them at different opacities, and then dialed back the result within Photoshop to find a level of punch that I felt worked for the image, and for my memory of what to scene looked and felt like.

I’d be interested to know any opinions on the edit – did I go too far, not far enough, or just right, based on what I had to work with? Everyone looks at things differently and I am always interested in the reactions of other people.

On1 test copy — Straight out of the camera.

On1 test — After some post processing love and attention.

Please visit:
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and

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October 29, 2017

2017-10-29: WPC Rounded

The photo challenge topic of the week is rounded. And while I contemplated creating a post highlighting all the lovely rounded lines on elephants, I decided instead to offer up a bit more variety.

I hope you enjoy my selection of images.

WPC Rounded1 — A view from the top of one of the dunes on the Skeleton Coast. Namibia, April 2017.

WPC Rounded2 — A zebra foal crosses a bend in the road, not too far behind Mom. Ongava Game Reserve, April 2017.

WPC Rounded3 — Trying to capture the sunset from a moving vehicle is not the easiest task, but I loved the way the light was hitting the curves in the road, so I gave it my best shot. South Africa, May 2017.

WPC Rounded4 — A lion pauses at a curve in the road, listening for his brother calling from the distance. Londolozi Game Reserve, May 2017.

WPC Rounded0 — Elephants gather at a bend in the Hoanib River for a drink and a mud bath. Namibia, April 2017.

Please visit:
www.jennifersawickyphotography.comm for wildlife, landscape and nature inspired artwork.

and

https://shopvida.com/collections/jennifer-sawicky for textiles inspired by my photography.

WPC: Rounded

October 22, 2017

2017-10-22: WPC Glow

The prompt for the photo challenge this week is glow; the perfect opportunity to share some photos with some beautiful light.

I hope you enjoy my selections!

20170425-P1020531-Edit — Sunset in the desert, seen on a drinks stop from the Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp. Namibia, April 2017.

20170515-DSC_6166-Edit — A leopard bathed in the last light of sunset. South Africa, May 2017.

untitled-2 — Following a lion into the light. South Africa, May 2017.

Please visit:
www.jennifersawickyphotography.com for wildlife, landscape and nature inspired artwork.

and

https://shopvida.com/collections/jennifer-sawicky for textiles inspired by my photography.

WPC: Glow

October 9, 2017

2017-10-09: Monochrome Monday

This big bull elephant was the last animal I saw before heading home from my last safari adventure. We came across him on our way back to camp for a quick breakfast before our flight out. He was moving swiftly along the road, and in musth as well, so we stayed well out of his way. He stopped briefly to check us out from afar, grabbed a small trunkful of sand from the road and let it fly before carrying on his way. The way the light was falling, the sand almost makes it look like he is surrounded by confetti.

20171009_MM — Bull elephant on the move. South Africa, May 2017. 1/800 sec, f6.3, ISO 560. Converted to black and white using On1 Photo Raw.

Please visit:
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and

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October 8, 2017

2017-10-08: Before and After – Lion Cub

I’ve had a lot going on recently on the editing side for my images and have been experimenting with new workflows and combinations of software. I’ve recently made the move from Lightroom over to On1 Photo Raw, and while it is a big learning curve, I am definitely enjoying the process. I had downloaded the trial of On1 after reading reviews that suggested it might be a better option than Lightroom for Fuji X raw files (I’m in the process of making the jump from Nikon to Fuji; new camera and new software all at once). What impressed me the most with the On1 software, and the reason I took the plunge with it, was I opened up some raw files both from my Nikon cameras and my Panasonic camera, and found they appeared much sharper just from the initial work of the raw processing engine, without me doing anything to the files.

I had flagged this photo to work on, and it is definitely a challenging image. It was shot at 1/250sec, f5.6, ISO 25,600 at 5:15 in the evening and the lion cub was in a deep, heavily shaded thicket. Whether the steps I took are the ones I would do again, I don’t know, but I am pleased with the end result for this one.

I knew I wanted to use Topaz Denoise for my noise reduction, so I moved the image from On1 Photo Raw into Photoshop to do my editing work. Other than the initial raw processing with lens corrections, I didn’t do any editing work on this image in On1 Photo Raw.

I ran Topaz Denoise 6 as a filter from Photoshop, and selected the Nikon D800 ISO 25600 preset, as they don’t have presets for the D600 or D610, and I found the results for the D800 gave me the best image quality.

Image at 200% as shot, to show the noise.

200% after denoise — Image at 200% after running Denoise 6.

Topaz denoise 6.jpg — Full image after running Topaz Denoise6.

After Denoise was complete, I could have gone back into On1 to do further work on the image, but I decided to stay within Photoshop and instead played around with the new Topaz Studio that I downloaded earlier this week (I’ve been using the Topaz suite for some time as filters from Photoshop, but they haven’t been go-to’s in my workflow).

Topaz studio adjustments.jpg — In Topaz Studio, I selected the preset “Light sharpen contrast under the basic panel as my starting point. I adjusted the colour temperature slightly and added a subtle vignette to the image.

Sharpening was my final step, which is a little tricky when you have an image that is really noisy. I stayed within Topaz Studio and went to Detail to see what could be done.

Topaz detail sharpening.jpg — Using Topaz Detail within Studio, I selected the micro contrast enhancement 1 preset to add a bit of sharpening to the image, without adding back a lot of the noise I got rid of in step one.

There are dozens of different ways to work on this image. I’m sure I could have done everything in Photoshop, Lightroom, On1 Photo Raw or Topaz Studio, or using a combinations of plugins like MacPhun’s Intensify and Focus or the GoogleNik filters. This was just the way I decided to work on this image, as I look to see how the new resources I have work and how to make them work together. Right now, I am doing my raw processing in On1 and using Photoshop when I want to use other filters and plugins, but I can’t say I have any real sort of workflow using these new tools. It’s all a work in progress 🙂

Let me know if you like the Before and After posts; I’ve done one previously also working on a seriously noisy image. You can find that here if you are interested (and I must say, looking back at that image, the workflow I used here yielded much better results!)

Please visit:
www.jennifersawickyphotography.com for wildlife, landscape and nature inspired artwork.

and

https://shopvida.com/collections/jennifer-sawicky for textiles inspired by my photography.

October 4, 2017

2017-10-04: Wordless Wednesday

September 18, 2017

2017-09-18: Monochrome Monday

I don’t want to call this a “best sighting” because it feels like I am discounting so many other amazing moments in the bush. So I will say instead that this was a truly special sighting, made all the more memorable by how genuinely excited my ranger was to get to experience this moment.

On our last morning game drive, we decided to head out to the area where this leopard was last seen, in the hopes of seeing her, or even better, her with her 2-1/2 week old cubs. I never imagined we’d find her transporting one of the cubs to a new den site, and that we would have close to an hour to watch her and the little ones.

I’ve posted a few more photos from this encounter so far, you can find them here if you’d like.

20170918_MM — The Tamboti leopard moving her cub to a new den site. May 2017. Londolozi Game Reserve, South Africa. 1/640 sec, f6.3, ISO 3200.

Please visit:
www.jennifersawickyphotography.com for wildlife, landscape and nature inspired artwork.

and

https://shopvida.com/collections/jennifer-sawicky for textiles inspired by my photography.

September 11, 2017

2017-09-11: Monochrome Monday

A cheetah scans the horizon from his perch on a termite mound.

20170911_MM — Phinda Game Reserve, South Africa. May 2017. 1/500 sec, f 6.3, ISO 360.

Please visit:
www.jennifersawickyphotography.com for wildlife, landscape and nature inspired artwork.

and

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September 10, 2017

2017-09-10: WPC Waiting

The photo challenge theme for this week is waiting… showing the moments before the action. Many of the wild animals that I love to watch so much are incredibly masterful at waiting. Lions lounge around most of the day conserving energy, and then only truly pursue a hunt when the prey is in the correct range. Leopards and cheetah are much the same. Spending time on safari, you must learn to be comfortable with waiting as well. More often than not, you’ll be spending time with animals while they are in their waiting periods; it’s certainly not all action with cheetahs taking down gazelle at full speed like you see on the wildlife documentaries. But even so, there’s no other place I’d rather be 🙂

I hope you enjoy my take on waiting.

20170506-DSC_2659-Edit — One of the wild dog pack members, watching the road and awaiting further instructions from the pack leader. Botswana, April 2017.

20170507-DSC_2992-Edit — A leopard pauses on his afternoon rounds, listening perhaps for the sounds of other leopards nearby, or prey is the distance. He was very deliberate in his patrol, often pausing to listen, then make a slight correction to the direction he was heading. Botswana, April 2017.

20170514-DSC_5511-Edit — A lioness looks off into the distance, towards a herd of impala and zebra. She’s wasn’t making a move at this time, as the herd had spotted her, and pursuit would have been futile. Much better to watch, and wait. South Africa, May 2017.

Please visit:
www.jennifersawickyphotography.com for wildlife, landscape and nature inspired artwork.

and

https://shopvida.com/collections/voices/jennifer-sawicky for textiles inspired by my photography.

WPC: Waiting