Jaguar

[Ted Kenefick]

Hello All,

First-time post to the wildlife forum and a long, long time since I posted to BPN.

I captured the attached image of this male jaguar in the Brazilian Pantanal last October. Would love image critiques.

Still very much a novice on PS (CS4) so would also appreciate all post-processing advice (re-posts also welcome!).

Post-processing included a curves layer applied to the jaguar to brighten him a bit, a hue/saturation layer to bring out some more of his color as well and some sharpening with Nik Sharpener Pro. A branch was also cloned out in the background.

I am struggling in working with selections and layers to get a more natural feel and not a "pasted-in" look.

Nikon D300
200-400mm f4
ISO 500
1/320
200mm
f4
Multi-segment metering

Thanks so much,
Ted Kenefick
Seattle
tgkenefick@msn.com

[Steve Canuel]

Nice looking cat. Doesn't have a pasted in appearance to me. Since you already removed one branch from the BG, I'd personally tone down or remove the bright one coming off the back. Also, as a personal preference on a very minor point, I'd darken the pupil and the corner/eyelids of the eye just a touch to give it a bit more contrast. It appears to be a bit lighter in that area than I'd expect although it could actually be lit up by the sunbeam on the face.

[Arthur Morris]

The light and the BKGR is far more problematic than the processing. Subject in shade/filtered light with relatively distracting BKGR in the sun is a toughie. You did pretty darned well. Agree on the bright branch and the need for some eye doctor work.

[Harshad Barve]

welcome to wildlife
Agreed with Guruji here
TFS

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Hi Ted,
A rare one you got. I guess a sighting itself is a privilege. Were you on a boat?

Difficult lighting conditions. However, the bright out of focus branch behind its back - as already pointed out - is a bit of distraction. Is it a full frame or cropped image? The image would have been strengthened further with some more space at the bottom, preferably till the foreleg joint. Do you have a vertical? Look forward to more.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Morkel Erasmus]

nobody has pointed it out so I will - there are some artifacts spilling over from your curve/levels masking of the cat, specifically on the chin, front leg, ears and basically all around the edges of the cat to a lesser degree. it's always tricky to make sure the editing blends in smoothly - I suggest you rework it and feather your selection better after selecting the jaguar.

you did handle the conditions very well, and the sighting itself is one on my photo-bucket-list.

welcome here and keep posting!

[Ted Kenefick]

Thanks to all for the suggestions. The dappled sunlight conditions were less than ideal. Morkel, I did pick up on the aberrations with the curves/levels masks after I posted and have reworked these. Thanks, for pointing these out. I was on indeed on a boat.

Cheers,
Ted Kenefick
Seattle, Washington
tgkenefick@msn.com