Target Locked !

[haseeb badar]

Hello everyone !

Had been busy with work lately and of course the T20 cricket world cup and now as India lost in the SF its time to get back the focus on learning .

This is a lioness from intrepid pride of Masai Mara , she was unusually aggressive at the approach of our vehicle and in that instance I managed to get this pose and aggressive look from her .

Canon 5D MK III , Canon 500mm f4 IS II ,Bean Bag.
ss 1/2000 , f/7.1, iso 1000 .

DPP4 , CS6 , levels, clarity, HSL, sharpening,selective colour,cropped slightly from the top ,cloned out a couple of grass blades near the lioness and healed out a dry area in the LHS BG area .

All your C&C's are most welcome.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Haseeb, I like the stare and the details. Wish you had gone wider to include the cut off limbs but I know the limitations of shooting with fixed lens. Techs look good. TFS.

[Carl Walker]

Hi Haseeb. Love the intense stare. Did you capture this handheld. Not sure but it may be over sharpened slightly too. Will wait for others to comment on that. Well captured though.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Haseeb - Great look to camera. I find the crop to be too in between though. If it will stand up to a further crop, I would come in from the lower right corner to crop some from below and from the right so that no hind leg/shoulder shows. Yes to it being oversharpened too.

TFS,
Rachel

[keith mitchell]

Haseeb sharping nit covered,bet it was a thrill looking through your lens at that stare,you must be pleased with this capture.

Keith.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Haseeb , yes certainly locked on :S3:.
Lovely look the lioness gave you , and the pose is quite cool .
Wonder what she was thinking ....
Agree with the sharpening and i might try a overall lighter and less contrasty version . My thinking is that it was taken on overcast conditions but still very bright .... ????
Like the overall color palette .

Nice work Haseeb .

TFS Andreas

[haseeb badar]

Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions ! here is a RP based on that , WDYT ?

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Haseeb, great stare to camera, yes the comp isn't ideal, but I feel you are building on what you are learning and composition comes in time.

The image appears to have too much Clarity/Contrast, the blacks look heavy and everything is subduing the finer detail that you have captured, and I think the comments re sharpening stems from this. The Greens & Yellow, albeit a few more are very dominate personally, however the Exposure looks good. As I said I think colours are dominating some of the whites too, and so you lose a bit of nice tonal range. If as Andreas thinks, it was overcast, then the colour will be a bit flat IMHO? No additional sharpening applied, all as per OP.

Not sure if this helps, but some simple colour correction and channel selection to pinpoint some colour back in with a little saturation/Vibrance I feel does help, best again, just my take. best to take both into PS and compare. Just watch the eyes too, they look a bit too deep, did you adjust them?

TFS
Steve

PS Bad luck on the Cricket. :w3

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Haseeb,

A very special encounter and I am sure you had goose flesh when this lioness looked you in the eye! Or rather, in the lens:w3

Beautiful stare from this "girl lion" and I was quite taken with this, therefore I would like to share with you my take on it - hope you do not mind. Sorry about the loss of IQ as I took quite a bit off the RHS.

Without looking at any of my previous lion images I tried to give this lioness the colours I remember from my encounters with the species. This isn't to say I am right, since the colours vary and lighting conditions also. This is how I see her with my mind's eye, Hasseb. Well, almost. I would have liked to have the RAW to work with.

Wonderful opportunity and techs are great, only the blacks are a bit choked and the image seems rather oversaturated in terms of other colours, IMO. You have a strong image to begin with, I personally think it's worth starting afresh and doing some selective work in PS, remember you can reduce opacity of the adjustment layers?

I would love this in my folders, BTW. Great work in the field, well seen and captured Haseeb!

Kind regards,

[Steve Kaluski]

Good call on the crop option Gabriela!

[Morkel Erasmus]

Love the expression you got here. Typical late morning, early midday Mara look & feel here.
Not sure I agree with Steve's colour rendition, perhaps somewhere between the two would work best? I do like Gabriela's crop option!

[haseeb badar]

Thank you Steve Gabriela and Morkel .

@ Steve : I think I got your point on what you tried to convey , though I find your version a bit bluish again personal preference but point taken
@Gabriela : Liked your RP especially the crop ( i have sent u the Raw file if you would like to play with it ) .

Here is an RP based on your suggestions .

[Steve Kaluski]

though I find your version a bit bluish again personal preference but point taken

Haseeb, is this when 'visually' viewing on screen?

FWIW if you take the eyedropper in LR and place it within the white chest area (or scoot around) you will get an almost 50/50/50 in all three channels which to me, is a good starting point, after that you can then hone in which ever direction you wish to go. Here I tried to keep it more neutral as a comparison to the OP.

But we all work differently. :S3:

[haseeb badar]

THank you Steve for pointing this out , I have just seen and compared the images OP and your post and then tried the eyedropper tool, the colours in your post looks much better compared to the yellowish / greenish OP of mine . another RP ! WDYT ?

[Gabriela Plesea]

Haseeb, sorry - I never got the RAW! Will send you a PM with my email address. Use WeTransfer please:)

I like your RP in pane no. 12, the colours look great, maybe a tad more punch when it comes to the fur and open the blacks a bit? Nose still too dark.

She is such a Queen! Mean and lean...I will find that 50/50/50 like Steve said, then work from there. Let us play:5

Have a wonderful evening,