Hyena Ruck

[Paul Taylor]

This is taken at the same den as the previous shot, but here are three of the slightly older hyenas, developing their spots and coats. They had a bit of bone and were fighting over it and just generally being pups. As with the previous shot it was still misty and the background reflects this to an extent - in fact the shot came out of camera quite soft for that reason, although with plenty of detail in there. I might be able to get more out with a bit more care.

Contrast and sharpening on the pups; and little NR to zap any noise in the background, and a small crop all around to focus on the action. The aperture was the only one to get me just about enough shutter speed as I had switched from ISO 1600 to ISO 800 shortly before this coming together happened.

Of course criticism is welcome.

Sony A580 Minolta 400/4.5 f/4.5 1/320s ISO 800

103147

[Ken Watkins]

Paul,

Under the difficult circumstances, this is a mighty fine image, worth taking and definitely worth sharing.:cheers::cheers:

Perhaps just a tad more sharpening, do you do a slight round of sharpening after conversion to JPEG?

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Paul, nice angel with a good low POV. These shots are really showing good classic behaviour, instinctive even at that age having seen it with bears. You are getting some excellent images from that camera, so well done.

Personally I feel a little more room all round would help if you had it, plus just adding a bit of Saturation, and/or just tweaking the Red & Yellow channels might just give it a little boost overall. Certainly wouldn't add any more contrast, however a little adjustment in Levels might be worth a shot too.

TFS
Steve :cheers:

[Paul Taylor]

Paul,Under the difficult circumstances, this is a mighty fine image, worth taking and definitely worth sharing.:cheers::cheers:

Perhaps just a tad more sharpening, do you do a slight round of sharpening after conversion to JPEG?

Thank you, Ken. I wonder about the sharpening. Used to do so, but now not. Just sharpen the Tiff file when I export it from Lightroom. Maybe I should go back to old ways.



Personally I feel a little more room all round would help if you had it, plus just adding a bit of Saturation, and/or just tweaking the Red & Yellow channels might just give it a little boost overall. Certainly wouldn't add any more contrast, however a little adjustment in Levels might be worth a shot too.


Thanks, Steve. I really appreciate the ideas (and did you see my belated thanks for the contrast at high ISO tip for the last post? That was very, very helpful).

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Paul, no worries, however I think it was Steve C who mentioned that. :w3

[Paul Taylor]

Hi Paul, no worries, however I think it was Steve C who mentioned that. :w3


I think if you add any more contrast it might affect the detail, especially with the ISO, it might appear a little crunchy.

Steve C also offered a comment on the contrast, but you are too modest. :w3

[Harshad Barve]

lovely pose and great advise above by Ken & Steve
TFS

[Stu Bowie]

Paul, excellent perspective, and love the 'interaction' captured. Colours look good, and agree a touch of levels will work.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Lovely action and light here, Paul! Some good advice given above...


Thank you, Ken. I wonder about the sharpening. Used to do so, but now not. Just sharpen the Tiff file when I export it from Lightroom. Maybe I should go back to old ways.

I can highly recommend that you do. Downsizing the image from full res to web resolution invariably results in a bit of softening...:w3

[Paul Taylor]

Thanks for the comments, Harshad and Stuart.



Lovely action and light here, Paul! Some good advice given above...

I can highly recommend that you do. Downsizing the image from full res to web resolution invariably results in a bit of softening...:w3

I have already started again, Morkel. Silly to think I could "get away with it"! :e3 Thanks.

And a very small levels adjustment and a bit of channel tweaking have worked well not only on this shot but on others I have been processing. Colour channel tweaking is a whole new world to me, so I need to be very careful I don't use it when unnecessary, but it's amazing what a nice difference little pulls on the right selective colour saturation and hue sliders in Lightroom can do when e.g. the temperature on foreground and background is different or the light is a bit harsh. Interesting.

[Ken Watkins]

Paul,
I look forward to seeing your "improvements", careful with those sliders:w3

[Paul Taylor]

Paul,
I look forward to seeing your "improvements", careful with those sliders:w3

I'll try to avoid purple cheetahs! :bg3: