Blood, Lions, Life...

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dearest Friends,

I have had no time to do a rework on the previous image posted, planning to do so when possible, meanwhile I am posting another one from the same folder which I have only sharpened a tad - this was also processed a couple of years ago.

This time around I am not desaturating anything, this is how I saw it at the time, sun shining hot and blood dried on the lion's fur, boys at play, perhaps not enough SS but it my first KTP trip with a decent camera (Nikon D3S), I was still learning how to use it and already convinced there was going to be no noise at any ISO so I pushed it a bit (to 2500) to have 1/1000s at F5.6. But it wasn't quite enough...

After just a couple of shots, the lions decided to stop eating eland leftovers and started playing, 1/1000s was barely sufficient and this image was left "unattended' for a few months after the event was recorded. New software took care of a couple of things (like sharpening) but I feel it also needs a complete rework to sort out the finer details - too many images, too many folders, and too little time available, so allow me to show you this as it is, and I promise to take your critique without any complaints (which you have to admit I always do, anyway:t3)

Nikon D3S
Nikon 500mm F4
F5.6
1/1000s
ISO 2500

Have a wonderful week,

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Gabriela, at this resolution, the image looks sharp enough for me. The moment was quite precious, and i think you had good exposure, sufficient sharpness, and DOF. The main issue for me is the OOF FG grass, which is distracting. Don't think you can do much about them though. Loi

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Gabriela no further work needed AFAIC - love it as is. Nice scene well captured!

[Brendon Cremer]

Lovely image Gabriela, good enough detail, nice colours and great action captured, i can live with the oof fg grass it the oof bg grass to the left of both of thier heards that is a little distracting for me, otherwise great work.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Gabriela - Well, if the sun was shining strong you certainly handled it well. Great interaction between them and the blood on the fur takes it up a notch for me. I agree with the others sharpness and detail look good. Keep looking at those old folders.

TFS,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

Lovely moment, Gabriela...love seeing Kalahari lion antics. Good bit of light just hitting the top cub's eyes. I feel the blacks are a tad choked up, and would open them up a fraction.
Some patches of fur look slightly oversharpened/crunchy?

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gabriela , very nice and lovely moment captured !!!!!
Works nice in general , love the colors and overall tones .
Agree within Morkel about the choked blacks and sharpness in parts of the fur.But that is repairable by starting from scratch ,minor stuff .Other than that very good.

Dig more through your old files , some goo d stuff is staying there i feel.:c3:.

TFS Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you all so much for your kind comments, I have this strong desire to participate but time is limited right now, busy re-working some older images for two companies who requested them for calendars as well as processing some shots taken the other day for a local eco-lodge. At last, some rewards for all the hard work over the past few years:tinysmile_shy_t:

Everyone is in a hurry to receive their images so I came home from work and more work is awaiting, computers on and I am feverishly typing, processing, resizing, a comment here and there and hopefully later something to share with you from this "beloved" old folder of mine. I found some some fun shots and was tempted to post them, although I realize they might not be quite up to standard. One such image shows a brown hyena running away from the Rooiputs lion clan, she is about to go up the dune and all you see is this fur ball on legs, all fours off the ground. Another image - taken in 2011 - is of a lion cub looking at a bee, my PP skills were really bad at the time but the moment is priceless, unfortunately I lost the original and I just cannot fix what I have done to it...

Looking at the older stuff tonight I just realize how much BPN has done for me - thank you mods, thank you guys and girls for all that you have taught me:5...Will see what I am going to post next, I know this image here could do with a rework and I will try to find the time, meanwhile - a big Thank You for viewing and for great advice, I really appreciate it!

Warmest regards,

[edwardselfe]

I think this is certainly worth working on as it's a beautiful moment. Lifting blacks, working on sharpening, and even considering a b&w for variety....?
Ed

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you very much, Edward! I will do so, and great idea with the B/W!

Those grasses do bother me a bit, wondering if I should not clone out some:w3

I really appreciate your feedback and time to view:5

Kind regards,

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, I like it, nice interaction and the grasses are for me not distracting, they give more to the image. A bit more space all round would be good as i feel it's a tad tight as presented, but all personal taste. I think just tweaking the WB, dropping the contrast & adjusting the HSL will bring this back up nicely when you reprocess the image. Then it's a fine balance of input/output sharpening. it's definitely a keeper and I think with your new found knowledge & kit you can really go to town on this one & the series.

TFS
Steve

Great story too.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Steve,

Thank you so much for your comments, as always great advice and I shall gladly go back to this image and re-process, making the changes you suggested. Maybe do a B/W as well, Edward's suggestion is very tempting. This entire folder is packed with scenes like the ones I have posted recently but they need careful processing...I have been working on another image over the past few days but just too much grass to clone/blur/paint:2eyes2:

Have a wonderful week-end:wave:

[Steve Kaluski]

I have been working on another image over the past few days but just too much grass to clone/blur/paint

Bad habits, leave it in. :S3:

[Gabriela Plesea]

Ok Steve, I will:bg3: but be prepared:t3, needs a lawnmower (LOL)