Fat Cat

[Tom Graham]

This taken in May of 2012 in South Africa Timbavati Reserve (next to Kruger). Not sure what this nearly grown male had eaten but he was filled!! Photos of him lying on his side (asleep) are almost painful to see, his belly so stretched!!
A very overcast early morning, low light, Nikon D200, 1/80 sec, f5.6 ISO 400, 70-300mm zoom at 240mm. Cropped off about 20%. Wish this appeared a bit sharper but slow shutter impacted and lion fur almost always seems "soft"?

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FWIW, this safari the most UN-productive ever for photos. Either bad light or obstructed view or limited vehicle positioning over and over again :2eyes2:
Tom

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Tom, yep, certainly a fat cat indeed, but good to see he is well fed.

Although I'm viewing on the laptop which is not ideal, I get the impression there is just too much yellow running through the image, plus, you own observation is perhaps the main issue of the image, low SS. Certainly being overcast I would gladly trade any day compared to bright/harsh light, but could you not increase your ISO to give better SS and even shoot wider with DOF? The IQ isn't quite there, however I like the angle & pose of this guy.

Had a quick fiddle in dropping the yellow and adding some USM, but on reflection I think it might have highlighted more issues re IQ?

Glad to see you did not use your 'Grey card' with this guy, as you might not have been able to share this image, LOL. :bg3:

TFS
Steve

[PhilCook]

yep, I think he's swallowed a whole hippo.

I find the amount of sharpness/detail quite good on my monitor, the re edit by Steve has I think brought out a bit more detail. The IQ is quite good considering it's a zoom lens, zooming back to 240mm was a good idea to help retain sharpness, most zooms tend to soften at the far reach of it's focal length, much bettter as you have done to retain sharpness and crop a little more. I think it a slight shame the foot on the right is nipped off and I maybe a wider crop rather than quite so square.

[Tom Graham]

I'm thinking perhaps original image a bit over color saturated. Here it is with saturation reduced , no other changes (and no, no Velvia action on original :S3: )

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I limited all shots to max ISO 400 for good D200 IQ. Could have gone bit more open than f5.6 put zoom limited there. But like all of lion to be in focus so f5.6 probably right for that.
Don't see a right foot ripped off issue?? And I would not call it a square crop, are you viewing image full screen? At 1020x742 pixels it is bit over 4x3 ratio.

Tom

[Morkel Erasmus]

Steve's version looks best to my eye, but the head has picked up some softness due to the slow SS used.
If you end up limiting your images on safari to ISO-400, I would SERIOUSLY consider upgrading at least to a used D300s or the D7000, Tom. It won't break the bank and will give you viable IQ up to ISO-1600 (I use the D7000 at even higher ISO's comfortably).

[Tom Graham]

Thanks Morkel, I agree.
I was rather stunned, as I hinted at above, by my lack of good photo "opportunities" on this/that safari. Even with ISO capability there still have to be a good sightings, view, and light. Some guides like to use a 1-5 scale rating for - sighting/animal, view(clear), and light. So something like Steve's recent image "another leopard" could be rated 1-1-2, or even 1-1-1. WAY too many of mine were 1-3-3 and mostly worse. No camera can help with a subject in deep sun and shade or with grass half over it. This lion shot is the only one I feel even close to worthwhile to put up on BPN.

Re D200 ISO, agree D300s or D7000 much better for higher ISO. If the D400 had come out last summer, I probably would have gone for it. But now seems question about even IF a D400. With my so-so photo experience this last safari and the travel rigors of two 11 hour plane flights to get Africa (from California), 32 hours door-to-door. I'm re-thinking the whole African safari experience. (That was my 8th time since 2005).

Tom