The Gaze

[Rachel Hollander]

I thought I would start us off for December's Theme of Headshots/Portraits. I saw so many lions this trip and had some extended sightings with them so I had a chance to experiment a bit with comps in camera, purposely shooting this tighter than a full face portrait, concentrating on the near eye but still shooting horizontally for plenty of negative space (though I have already applied a small crop to slightly reduce the negative space). This is a young male member of the Hollywood Pride in South Luangwa N.P., Zambia. His coat is probably the darkest I have seen of any lion.

Canon 7DII
100-400 II @ 400mm
1/400
f5.6
ISO 800
HH from safari vehicle, slight crop, levels, curves, sharpened in PSCC.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Bryan Pereira]

Very Nice! the bottom is a little tight for me I like to see the bottom of the jaw, having said that if some is cropped at the top so you have less of the ears, it really focuses my view on the eyes making it more balanced and powerful.
sharpness is awesome, I have lots of guests in Kenya that use that lens

[keith mitchell]

Rachel all I see is the amazing detail and texture of the fur on this animal ,the eyes are beautiful.

Keith.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel well you have awesome details and well set sharpness ....very nice .
Lovely deep color and tone , just the blacks do look a bit clogged up in parts.
With hindsight , you could have pushed the Iso to gain more DOF to get the left eye also in focus .
Nice framing ... with some space to look into !!! well done

TFS Andreas

[haseeb badar]

Hi Rachel -- Excellent details and very nicely processed and very nicely framed as well , but not sure on the clipped chin but still there is a nice balance in the frame so not a deal breaker for me . I really enjoyed viewing this image .

TFS !

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Bryan, Keith, Andreas and Haseeb very much. I'm glad you like it. The clipped chin was in camera and on purpose so I can't bring it back for those who miss it.:w3

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, I get the sense this lion was passing the vehicle based on the close proximity & angle/PoV?

As presented it's not really working for me sadly, the clipped chin is the major factor for me. I think you would have been stationary at the time and so had a chance to 'track' the Lion, thus providing time for him to walk into frame, let him come to you. Or to pull back on the lens giving yourself more options for cropping, however if you were going for the eye & close surround then I feel you need to be far tighter here, it's a bit halfway house as presented. I also think if the lion was on the move 1/400SS is not going to give you the best capture, you want more SS. In addition, I agree with Andreas on the Blacks, they are clipped which is unusual, but also pulling back on both Shadow & Contrast opens up more detail, but overall I find the image dark and lacks the character. If you have time, i would look at the overall exposures and to brink some more 'colour' back into the frame.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Steve, no, he was sitting still. I do have wider shots of him but was just going for something different here.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

no, he was sitting still. I do have wider shots of him but was just going for something different here.

OK, even more reason to have more SS because folk 'bounce' in a vehicle unless it was a private one. As I said, based on what you were trying to achieve, you needed more reach to avoid the hefty crop.

[Rachel Hollander]

Steve - not sure I understand your last comment, I achieved what I wanted here. Granted it may not be everyone's taste, but it is the image design that I had in mind and captured in the field.

Meant to say I'll take a look at your processing suggestions.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

In my original comments I said I felt the 'framing' isn't working as it's a halfway house, neither tight or loose. I feel to achieve what you wanted you needed to go/be tighter in, almost aggressive/very deliberate in it's framing and so if the 100-400 was at it's full extent, you needed more reach and to avoid any hefty cropping. I can live with a hint of the ears, but the jaw/chin to me is just such an integral/iconic part and provides some of the character/structure to the face.

Don't go by the crop, but using the light you had and using some selective masking there is far more you can bring from the original RAW IMHO, I didn't want to push things around the eye.

Hope this clarifies things.:S3:

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Steve. I'll take a look at your suggestions but as I said in the intro he was the darkest lion I've ever seen and think you've lost a little of that but will look at the detail and toning. We'll have to agree to disagree on the comp :tinysmile_shy_t:. Yes, I could go a sliver more off any direction or perhaps more off the top but the comp in the field was deliberate. If I am understanding your suggestion for in the field, it was to have a much tighter image of the eye or eyes which to me would be a different image. Maybe I am just not understanding. Sorry.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nice clarity in his eyes, and I like his dark skin tone.
Perfectly fine with the negative space here in front of the eyes. I do miss that sliver of chin, it's the OCD part of me I guess. Perhaps I'd miss it less if you crop some off the top to lose the visible ear portions and go more pano?

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Rachel, love the detail on the face, together with intent stare ahead. I really like the detail in the near eye, and the space on the RHS works for me. I remember you told me you saw a lot of lions on your recent trip.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Morkel and Stu :wave:

[Basil Dardagan]

I am no expert however I have looked at millions of lion images and I feel that the clipped chin does work in this image. It is certainly differant and i can understand what people are saying however in 'this day and age' when everybody is pushing creativity in wildlife images I think the crop does a great job by highlighting the detail in the fur/eyes and the soul in the eyes and perhaps does that better than a tradional portrait crop would have done

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Basil :wave: