Serval(c)

Yummm… I see a fat Guinea-fowl!!

Serval captured @ Emdoneni Cheetah Rehab.

Downloaded Nik collection.
LR 5 for basic processing, found LR Raw Pre Sharpen works better than NIK.
In Color EFX used Tonal Contrast and Detail extractor with brush, changed opacity of layer to suit taste.
Did normal adjustment layers including D&B layer with soft light.

Nikon D3S with 300 F2.8
1000 ISO
1/800 @ 5,6
+1/3 EV

Love the pose here Andre. Details, clarity, colour and sharpness all look good to me.
Since it was a captive cat, was there an opportunity to frame it so the trees/sticks don't protrude behind its back and head?

Quote:

---

Since it was a captive cat, was there an opportunity to frame it so the trees/sticks don't protrude behind its back and head?

---

Exactly Morkel, sorry Andre, but this to me is a big error, being captive offers you the opportunities to get the 'almost' perfect image. Don't mean to be harsh, but opportunities like this don't grow on trees and this is a golden moment. Do I assume this is the same animal as one previously posted a while back?

If you hadn't mentioned it I would have said the image conveys the use of DE/TC, I feel it has just sucked out the depth in shadows and some tone. Going tighter would be better I feel, but then will the IQ be OK. Not a lover of huge crops as you throw aways so much info, could you have added an extender? I can see where you are going, but as presented the crop isn't working for me.

TFS
Steve

Hi Morkel

Thanks for comments.

The enclosure is about 30x30m. By the time we went in it was feeding time, the three cats were constantly moving. You find a position to sit down for lower angle, and have a firing zone to not include a wire fence in the BG.

You can not follow them and sit down and compose and shoot; by that time they have moved off again:2eyes2:.

Sometimes I wish we could live in a perfect world….

Andre

The RAW…. any suggestions?

Hi Andre - The comp and crop is definitely a tough one on this. I understand that even in captive situations it is difficult to get everything to align for the perfect shot. I'm curious what percentage of DE you used? It's a powerful tool that I find should be used at low percentages. I haven't used TC so cannot comment on its use.

TFS,
Rachel

Thank you for comments Rachel and Steve.

At the sanctuary you do not photograph from outside the enclosure, but from the inside. The animals are used to humans so they come very close to you, sometimes rub against you. One is walking among them following them while trying to get the right angle with a natural BG. They are moving, not statues.

Rachel, can't remember the exact %, but applied the DE to the image in preview, then used brush to paint in mask. The layer opacity is then adjusted to MY eye.

I am grasping at software such as NIK, PPW etc to achieve the effect that I obviously can not achieve with curves etc.

I do not have the "eye" to make an good image, trying to compensate with technical knowledge.


Nik is a new tool, I still have to learn to use it more effectively.

Regards

Andre

Hi Andre,
i like the look up pose and that tongue is just gorgeous .
From laptop it looks good to me in terms of color and contrast. A wee bit light overall.
Only the tree behind the head is kind of distracting, a lot of work to get rid off.

TFS Andreas