New Lens -Tiger Cub Portrait (C)

[Rachel Hollander]

After using Artie's 300 2.8 II at the IPT a few weeks ago I got my own. Had a chance to go to the Bronx Zoo this weekend to test it out. Shot through glass.

Canon 5D3
300 2.8 II
1/800
f6.3
ISO 1600
HH, levels, curves, selective color, dodging and burning, NR on bg and sharpened in CS6.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[shane shacaluga]

Wow!! Looks like its going to jump out the screen and eat my sandwich ;)

[dankearl]

Hi Rachel,
Nice sharp throught the glass photo.
As the owner of the Nikon version, you will love the lens.
They are very versatile, My 300 seems almost sharper with the 1.4 tc,
as well as the 2x and I assume the Canon version does as well from what I have seen.
Easy to handhold and you get mumerous combinations.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Shane and Dan

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Congrats Rachel on your new lens! I am sure you will have a great time with it. I look forward to your posts with the new lens. The tiger cub just 'pops' out of the screen. Cheers
Sanjeev

[Faraaz Abdool]

Beautiful shot, Rachel, especially through glass. I'm glad to see the new glass in action. I know how much you enjoyed shooting with it on the IPT!

[Robert Amoruso]

Nice detail on the tiger's face. I think this could be cropped more into a vertical to eliminate a less than ideal BG Rachel.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, the 300 is a great lens and with the combo of the 2 converters will give you a lot of options, plus it's HH friendly :bg3:

As presented I would be tempted to try and tame the highlighted 'streaks' and knock them back, or you could go portrait as Robert mentioned, or even square. Still away and viewing on the laptop, but you could try a luminosity mask just to beef the colour up a bit, say around 60%. There also looks like some 'tinges' in the whites of the chin which can easily be adjusted. If you want, adding a tad more saturation in the eyes & pink of the nose may help?

Good to see you getting out & about and getting more practice in with your kit, it's the way to go. :cheers:

TFS
Steve

[Bill Jobes]

That's a beautiful portrait, Rachel !

Congrats on the new lens. If it looks this good through the containment glass, just imagine the sharpness in the clear !

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Rachel,

great suggestions above, I might go for vertical as well, if possible. Have no paper right now on my hand :w3
I might would add more sharpening to the eyes, for me it looks the from the nose to the eyes it is on the dot sharp but the eyes loose a bit. That is what I see, could be wrong, since I have stared all day on the screen :bg3:

Ciao
Anette

[Morkel Erasmus]

Sorry for my delay in commenting, Rachel.
Big congrats on the new lens!! :5
Steve's made some good suggestions as usual - what struck me at first was the lack of colour/vibrance and the seemingly cooler WB...reflective of the conditions on the day?

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions. They are much appreciated.

[Brendon Cremer]

Congrats on the new lens Rachel. As for the image steve offers some great advice and I share morkels sentiments regarding the lack of saturation and vibrance, not sure if the conditions at the time were quite dull or overcast?

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Brendon. Yes, it was overcast and cold and the cubs' colors seem to be less vibrant than their mother who shared the exhibit with them.

[Jamie Douglas]

Hi Rachel, :5 to the new lens and I'll be keen to hear about and see the results when you combine it with either of the convertors.

As for the image, only remark would be to reduce the contrast to soften the background lines to the right hand side.

Jamie

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Jamie. Did you make a decision yet?

[Shreyas Mantri]

Nice shot, and congrats on the lens!