Recent content by Russell Johnson

That's not an African sky for that vegetation or time of year. Those cloud formations are indicative of the end of the rainy season and would be seen in the middle of the day. The blue would also be crisp, not hazy, as there would be minimal atmospheric pollution. It's why dropping skies...

I'm not sitting at my computer, though this looks a good reference point, though I would look to change the blue tone in the sky to soften it a touch. You could probably extract a touch more golden light by pushing a mid-tones luminosity mask. Though it's the cleanest and most realistic in...

There is the obvious, visit at the time of year that will provide you with more interesting skies! Any time during the dry season, you are going to struggle with good light and the atmospheric dust will always produce the overcast looking skies. Dropping in skies becomes a challenge, as you...

I think that globally applying noise reduction is not the most effective way to use it. On an image with significant noise, I would create two DNGs in DXO with different levels of NR and sharpening, one for the background, the other the subject. You can then blend the two images in PS to...

That's a very good price to visit a team with a very good setup. This isn't aimed at Pangolin in particular, though at the Chobe River front in general, it's very busy. Most of the lodges are located in and around the town, so in residential areas. If you are flying all that way, I would at...

Would anyone be share their first hand experience with the Cam Ranger 2? I am looking to use this for remote wildlife photography. The main query I have is in terms of focusing abilities via a tablet/smart phone. How functional is it?

Before jumping paper, could you share the following: 1) Is your monitor calibrated? 2) Do you use the paper profiles to soft proof your prints? 3) Do you use the right color profiles when printing? Unless you have a good color workflow, changing paper is not going to resolve your issues.

Not sure whether you were aware of the custom function tweaks which basically gives you the same setup as the Nikon. On the 1d III upwards, under safety shift, change it to enable ISO. As i do wildlife, i shoot in AV, so set two custom functions with different minimum shutter speeds. Set...

Gembobs, without belabouring the point, your comments would illustrate how there is a complete lack of clarity over the hunting situation in Botswana. Only Government leased areas will not be issuing hunting licences, and they will still be issued for problem animals. To put that into...

Kenya did ban hunting, and since they have seen a 70% reduction in their wildlife numbers. Part of the issue has been the removal of incentives for those living in close proximity to the parks to accept predators and crop raiding elephants for example. The Masai are known to give lions...

But most of these articles refer to lion hunting, of which in most Southern African countries there is a moratorum.

Insomniac - The hunting debate is often made black and white by most people outside of Africa, without necessarily considering the implications of opposing and being pro. The hunting system in each country will also be different, which puts a different slant on the benefits of hunting. The...

Without the RAW file, cropping is the best option.

At work as we speak, though I would look to double process the RAW file and manually blend them in PS using luminosity masks. Although you may not be able to get a lot of detail in the sky, you will be able to tone it down. Will try to post an example when I get home.

It is a case of learning from each time you take a image, which then allows you to know what to avoid in the future. The image you have posted is not going to sing, as the conditions were not in your favour. On a dull day, with flat light, the colours are always going to provide a muted look...