Red-Billed Oxpecker on Rhino

Last weeks WPOTW story was about the Eye of the Rhino and the challenges of wildlife photography in the Sabi Sands.

And this weeks follow up story is from the same shoot and the discovery of this this unexpected hidden gem!

SETTINGS: 1/800 sec shutter speed on a 600mm lens (150-600mm) in shutter priority mode with aperture and ISO in auto. ISO ended up being 800.

Why it’s important: Last week while I was going through all of the images I took of the rhinos I came across this image that stopped me in my tracks. It was an image of two red-billed oxpeckers on the back of the rhino and I thought to myself that this shot may be a keeper.

It was also the final week of my latest Bootcamp Challenge, which is all about the bird photography and I needed another image to post and get feedback from the members inside BootCamp.

So I decided to give this photo a quick edit to see if it was good enough. Here is the original un-edited image straight out of camera (SOOC). Looks a bit dull but could it be made to pop with a little post processing?

POST PROCESSING: After running my RAW image through Topaz Photo AI to sharpen and remove any noise, I then opened this image in Lightroom. The first thing I did was cropped my image - removing any distractions. The 2nd oxpecker was a distraction here so I removed it by cropping in closer to the main oxpecker.

Global Adjustments: Then I toned my image by reducing the highlights and the blacks while always watching the histogram to make sure my image was properly exposed with most of the tones in the mid-tone to darker range. This is because of all the greys and blacks in the image.

Local adjustments: This is where I enhanced the focal point in my image - the oxpecker. Using the masking tool I selected my subject only and then increased the exposure by a third of a stop as well as the clarity and texture. This makes my subject more interesting and attractive to the eye of the viewer.

Next I use the radial filter to enhance the oxpecker’s eye - ever so slightly. Then it was time to seperate the bird from the back of the rhino using the linear gradient mask to give the rhino’s rough skin more clarity and contrast as well as de-saturating it a little. This makes the colour in the oxpeckers eye and beak more pronounced against the de-saturated rhino’s rough hide.

“Love those rough scrape marks on the back of the rhino”

Have a closer look at the oxpecker. Notice how I have used the local adjustments to make the bird really pop in this image - especially that eye?

BIG LESSON: We’ve all got hidden gems within our library of images that have yet to be found, like this image of the red-billed oxpecker on top of the rhinos back. It’s worth re-visiting your images from time to time to find your hidden gems! A great task for a rainy day when you get to re-experience the emotions from the photo shoot.

Stay inspired.

Brent

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