New King of Duba Plains

[Loi Nguyen]

This is the male lion of a newly formed pride at Duba Plains. This image taken just before sunset.

1DX
500f4 II
1/400
f5.6
ISO-3200
HH
Cropped to ~ 40% of FF.

I had posted a similar image in color before, but would like to try my hand on a B&W here.

Thank you for your comments.

Loi

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Loi , nice frame filler , looks good with the eyes wide open .Good detail and sharpness .
Overall a tad too light and the conversion is not grabbing me really , looks like 50/50 , not black not white . From my understanding to overcome the loss of color you need to compensate with tone and contrast , which is lacking here.But can be added if wished :bg3:.

Hope you don`t mind , TFS Andreas

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Nice portrait, Loi! The cat's right eye looks a little too bright (unnaturally so) so I'd bring its highlights down just a bit. Other than that it's a great pic.

[Neil Burton]

Got to agree with Andreas here ( :o ) lacking contrast, needs some definate black and whites and a tad less bright on the LHS of his face. Great portrait to be working with though.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Loi - I like frame filling comps so the comp works for me though I might prefer if the top of the mane wasn't clipped. I also agree on the contrast, blacks and whites here. Did you use a flash here? The pupils have that look of having been flashed. You've got nice detail and sharpness. I love it when the taste buds show on the tongue.

TFS,
Rachel

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Loi,

must agree with the blacks and contrast with this B&W of the lion. I am sure by now you see it as well. Give it a try.

have a great day

Ciao
Anette

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Everyone, thank you for your comments. I was trying to do something different with the B&W. The light was completely natural, no flash was used. There was a lot of red in the setting sun. The image had strong Magenta and blue cast on the mane, which I didn't like. I went back to re-work a color version using Hue/Sat and Selective color to reduce the magenta and blue cast. Hope you like it better. Forgot to mention I removed a couple of loose strands of grass. Thank you. Loi

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Loi,

this I like a lot. Red sun is red sun :)
I would reduce the blue on the right side on the mouth/lips and a bit the purple, but this is a taste thing.
Give another boost of mid tones, check it out :w3

Cheers Anette

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Loi,

how about this in B&W? Just a fast one.
Noise came up in BG but can be fixed, I did not do that, also LH upper part above the mane is a bunny :w3

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Anette, love it! A very different lion, more fierce, scary looking. I see it now the OP was just way too light. I like the color version too. Thank you. Loi

[Neil Burton]

Thats the direction I would go in for sure.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Great specimen Loi - I agree the original B&W lacks contrast and punch. I also disagree that the colour version lacks colour - I love the colour contrasts.
I see 2 versions here:

1. The colour version with more tonal contrast and midtone punch
2. A monochrome version which accentuates the fall of the red light, thus light on one side and dark on the other. Anette's mono RP is too flat ito light contrast for me...