I appreciated James Milligan’s “Lunchtime” image of the tortoise. I had just pulled up this detail of an elephant and hope it too can be appreciated as iconic. Few images can better represent the relationship of humanity with the natural world. Whether with sadness for the devastation we have caused them or joy for seeing anything of them, we are finally beginning to understand how elephants represent life on Earth, proverbial “canaries” for us in so many ways. Suffice it to say every encounter I had with them in Botswana brought astonishment, smiles and tears all at once. I particularly love this detailed image.
Specific Feedback Requested
any and all
Technical Details
Pentax K-7, 1/400, f7.1, 230mm, ISO200 with adjustments to tone curves in LR
What a unique view of this icon, John. Yes, the details are fascinating. The torn ear on the lower right is pretty interesting as well…an untold story of some past event. I’m not sure if you wanted this to be more on the abstract side or if you want the subject discernable. I found myself wanting to crop out the dark splotches on the upper right corner in an attempt to make it even more abstract and hard to figure out, but that’s just my abstract eye talking. It is a fascinating image as presented!
Elephants are one of my favorites! I’ve seen different abstract, close up images of them before. But I don’t think I’ve seen it with the ear included and I really like how you did it, John! It’s got such a beautiful shape at the edge. I think as @Mark_Muller said, if you wanted it to be more abstract you could go for just a slightly tighter crop. Either way it’s a beautiful capture of a most important icon.
Thank you all and glad it fit the topic in your view. I have cropped that and a couple other closeup images to abstraction and always went back to leaving enough to honor the animal more fully.
I love your interpretation of an icon John! This is a great abstract of a great Iconic animal. I don’t think I would crop anything out - it would negatively affect the balance IMHO. The dark spots don’t bother me, but if they did, I would clone them out.
