Lion Portrait-Serengeti, Tanzania

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi All,
Had a fantastic trip to Masai Mara, Serengeti & Ngorongoro Crater. Had the good fortune to see the magnificent big cats upclose. This fella was on a tree branch lazing after a nice meal.
7D and 100-400 L
1/500
f 5.6
400mm

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8022/7321842896_b3d21e5216_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/40906945@N08/7321842896/)
IMG_4312 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/40906945@N08/7321842896/) by docsanjeev (http://www.flickr.com/people/40906945@N08/), on Flickr

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Sanjeev,
Even though I like tight comps....I just wish you had backed off a touch to get the ear and front paw in......not much. Might be tempted to lighten the eyes a few points too.....just to really hold the viewers attention.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Thanks for the comments, I agree with you but I wanted to focus on the intense stare and the eyes just drew me into this tight composition.

[Ken Watkins]

Sanjeev,

This is a very nice "peek-a boo" image, I agree with Roman on the need to back off a little, in camera cropping is always difficult as you rarely get to see everything that the sensor will collect. Besides that it is easier to crop during processing:w3

I might try toning down the white patch a little.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Thanks Ken, Peek-A-Boo is exactly what I had in mind when I posted the image! I will try to tone down the white patch. I have hundreds of images more of lions and I do have the same lion in a wider composition. Will post more as and when possible.

[Rachel Hollander]

Sanjeev - tight crop and white patch aside (both comments I agree with btw), this seems to me to be a big step up in the IQ of your images. Looking forward to seeing more from your trip/

TFS,
Rachel

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hey, thanks Rachel. That's encouraging for me! Will keep sharing as am taking time to sort and process the images.
Regards

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hi Sanjeev.
I agree with Roman on it being just "too tight"...:t3
f5.6 on that lens is decent, but I found best sharpness was achieved at f7.1 or f8.0 (a veritable sweet spot, it was the same for many friends who used this lens). You may also not have had enough DOF here? Hard to tell at this size, high res RAW will show what is in proper focus.

I took the liberty of a repost...

Resized to 800 high (1024 high doesn't work well as most people will have to scroll up and down to view the entire image).
Sharpened lion's face selectively.
Lightened eyes selectively.
Adjusted color balance (looked a tad green)

What do you think?? :c3:

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

The Re-post Looks AWESOME, The eyes have brightened up and it looks sharper!
Thanks Morkel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Sanjeev, pleased to hear all went well and you had a good trip, hope the hints & tips prior worked. :w3

Morkel hit the nail on the head re comments and the RP really shows what you have as a image, you just need to expand and build on your processing to extracted the best from you image, but just take your time and don't rush, if you need any help just ask. :cheers:

Look forward to more soon.

TFS
Steve

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Thanks Steve,
will need some help in PP, do I sharpen my image after resizing in PS or before? Or do I do it twice, once before and once after?
Sanjeev

[Steve Kaluski]

Just replied, hope it makes sense.

Steve