Raw Africaby
HarveyGComment: Hi Rian, wildlife IQ is overrated (if termed in shot crispness and sharpness for every shot). DPC voting on the whole appears too fussy and preoccupied with crisp and clear (for every genre/subject). This is shot through rain, mist and about 80 meters of atmospheric haze in very low light overcast conditions. This is what is so annoying to me that everyone (not you specifically) expects zero "wild" conditions in a wildlife image. Wildlife photography is about the situation, the weather, the moment etc and it is not a studio nor should Post Processing make it more than what it was. The DSLR RAW file is flat, and has to be brought to life. It is nothing like what the eye sees at time of shot as you know. Sometimes this scene presents itself in a dustbowl with Vultures and Jackal and Lion scrapping over the carcass. There's so much dust that the possibility of a "crystal clear" shot is near impossible but that is surely how it is? Raw and untouched? Occasionally one will get a pristine shot just after rain where there are no atmospheric issues; dust, mist, rain, heat haze but seldom.
If one looks at last years winner of the
NHM Wildlife Photographer of the year shot by Greg Du Toit, it was a shot of Elephant taken at their feet with an UWA 16-35mm, massive DOF, blurred. Totally off the wall non traditional. Dusty, low light, rough, not much crisp clear IQ at all blurred due low shutter speed. It was a victory for "as shot".
In wildlife circles this is the norm; as shot. Images aren't penalised because of a lack of clarity.
ETA: The comedian in me says perhaps I should have offered the Jackal a napkin, knife and fork. Might have made the image less nauseating to some! That could be the reason. Dislike of the subject? Too gruesome as you say?
Message edited by author 2014-09-09 01:48:38. 
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