Gloria Grandolini
November 2024 - Swimming Giants
Original
About the Image(s)
I took this photo in Santa Cruz Island ,in the Galapagos, in May. These are the Giant Galapagos Tortoise, they are endemic to the islands. I also included a photo of myself with one of them to give you a sense of the very large size! I liked this particular image because they were hanging out in their favorite place - in the mud. Also from afar one could only see the shells hovering above the water and it looked quite surreal.
Shot with Canon EOS R5, handheld
1/125 sec at f/9.0 ISO 400
64mm (RF 24-70m f 2.8 L IS USM lens)
In Lightroom adjusted exposure and whites and blacks and some dehazing.
4 comments posted
These are very interesting subjects. I too like the setting.
I edited the photo in FR. My goal was to emphasize the tortoises and remove distractions. First I cropped the image to emphasize the tortoises. Then I put a radial gradient around the tortoises. I lowered the highlights and added a bit of texture and sharpness to emphasize the shells. Then I inverted and duplicated the mask. I lowered the highlights, texture and sharpness. Attached is my interpretation of the image....totally subjective.
It is a very nice image and I wish I had taken it. Posted: 11/03/2024 08:03:55
I edited the photo in FR. My goal was to emphasize the tortoises and remove distractions. First I cropped the image to emphasize the tortoises. Then I put a radial gradient around the tortoises. I lowered the highlights and added a bit of texture and sharpness to emphasize the shells. Then I inverted and duplicated the mask. I lowered the highlights, texture and sharpness. Attached is my interpretation of the image....totally subjective.
It is a very nice image and I wish I had taken it. Posted: 11/03/2024 08:03:55
Thanks Richard - your edit does bring better focus to the turtles. Posted: 11/13/2024 16:26:41
Gloria,
Lucky you to have been there recently! I went one time about 24 years ago, it was amazing and I really want to go back with a more modern camera! (I have a choice between film and 3MP back then!)
Anyway... I don't know that this will be a very competitive image in Photo Travel, but it has some nice things going for it - you have a group of 3 in a vaguely pyramidal arrangement. You have a pleasing but unobtrusive reflection. Turtles make people smile. And two of the turtles have their heads out. Also you have soothing green color throughout, and a nice, dark BG to help guide the eye to the subject.
I believe that most people would understand that this is the Galapagos and those are giant tortoises, but we only understand their scale if we assume that tree on the left is full sized. For that reason, the image lacks immediate impact that helps carry an image to competition success. I'll be very curious to learn if I'm wrong about that!
Technically, I prefer Richard's version and the crop also maximizes screen space as it complies with the ratio accepted in most competitions. I feel that the highlights on the FG mud are still a bit distracting, but if you apply some highlight reduction in that area beginning with your original RAW file, that will be more effective.
Lillian Posted: 11/11/2024 18:00:49
Lucky you to have been there recently! I went one time about 24 years ago, it was amazing and I really want to go back with a more modern camera! (I have a choice between film and 3MP back then!)
Anyway... I don't know that this will be a very competitive image in Photo Travel, but it has some nice things going for it - you have a group of 3 in a vaguely pyramidal arrangement. You have a pleasing but unobtrusive reflection. Turtles make people smile. And two of the turtles have their heads out. Also you have soothing green color throughout, and a nice, dark BG to help guide the eye to the subject.
I believe that most people would understand that this is the Galapagos and those are giant tortoises, but we only understand their scale if we assume that tree on the left is full sized. For that reason, the image lacks immediate impact that helps carry an image to competition success. I'll be very curious to learn if I'm wrong about that!
Technically, I prefer Richard's version and the crop also maximizes screen space as it complies with the ratio accepted in most competitions. I feel that the highlights on the FG mud are still a bit distracting, but if you apply some highlight reduction in that area beginning with your original RAW file, that will be more effective.
Lillian Posted: 11/11/2024 18:00:49
Thanks Lillian - I see your point.. I have other shots a bit farther away that show more of the turtles. I did find it challenging to convey how large they are without using an image with myself (or another human being) close to one of them. Posted: 11/13/2024 16:28:43