The Queen’s Stare

Image:

Female Lion
Masai Mara, Kenya
September 2015

Well friends, it has been almost a year since I processed an image :e3; I missed this place and your wonderful support and camaraderie! Insane demands at work (e.g., finished writing a book, organized an international conference) coupled with numerous health issues took their toll this year. At long last, I dusted off the software and processed this image today. :bg3: I picked an image that I was hoping would be relatively simple to process, enabling me to slowly get back into the groove. However, it is amazing how much knowledge of processing techniques I had lost over the last 12 months, and it was challenging re-training my eyes on what to look for in an image. As a result, it took longer than usual to remember what to do, but thankfully I have kept detailed notes over recent years that helped jog my memory. That said, I am sure I completely messed something up along the way here, so your comments and critique are certainly welcomed and appreciated!

This lioness was photographed in Mara North Conservancy in the greater Masai Mara in Kenya. She belonged to a massive pride of 50 lions (biggest I had ever seen) that were split into a few subgroups. Many of these lions were lazing in the grass, but a few of the cubs jumped up onto a large rock, which caught the attention of this lioness for just a few seconds, but long enough to make this image. Wild, no compositional elements changed.

Equipment:

Canon 5D Mark 3.
Canon 500 f4 Mark II lens.
F4.0, 1/400, ISO 1250.
full manual mode, spot metered off the grass
beanbag with Visual Echoes panning plate.

Post processing:

Lightroom: standard RAW conversion and global adjustments, HSL for color cast, slight crop and rotation.
Photoshop: luminosity mask, levels, curves, selective color, resized, sharpened, etc. for output.
Nik Color Efex: detail extractor filter.
Nik Viveza: a couple of minor targeted adjustments.
Nik Dfine: targeted noise reduction.
edited on a color calibrated NEC P241W monitor.

Welcome back Mark, hope your health issues are sorted.

Love the pose here from this big female, the soft lighting and subtle HK working nicely here, might try a tad more mid tone contrast to have her pop a little more and perhaps some more

virtual room below, if you have it, very nicely seen nonetheless. :w3

TFS

Hey Mark it's nice to see you posting again! :5
I like the clean look here. It looks a tad light so I would drop overall exposure just a fraction (ever so slightly), should add some punch back into the scene.
I agree that a little more space bottom and RHS would have been nice, presume this is close to FF after your slight crop?

Beautiful image Mark, great pose and FG, BG. Agree on a little more too below and dropping exposure a tab. Very nice! I miss Mara. TFS.

Hi Mark - Welcome back and glad to hear that your health issues are sorted enough to get you back in the saddle so to speak. Very regal pose and I like the soft tones here. I agree about more space below.

Would also love to hear your thoughts about others' images. As you remember it helps foster that great sense of community you mentioned.

TFS,
Rachel

Brilliant - thanks everyone for the excellent suggestions :cheers:. Here is the RP - boosted midtone contrast a bit on the lioness, re-cropped to add more space on the bottom and RHS (no room left to add any more- right at the original image's edges now), and dropped exposure .15. WDYT? Agree Rachel - I will start commenting again on the brilliant work of others posting here on BPN.

I love the repost, my first reaction to the original was similar to the comments posted.

Hi Marc ... oops you have been away quite some time . good to see you back here , hope your health issues will get sorted out quickly .
Very nice clean shot of this lioness , like the look into the distance of the lioness .
RP is an improvement and i also would like to see a bit more room on bottom , but .... if it is not there ok too.
This works well :cheers:.

TFS Andreas

Thanks, Andreas! Hope all is well! In the RP, I added back (from the original crop) about 1/2 inch to the bottom compared to the original. Unfortunately, I cannot add any more (unless I add canvas using content aware), as I am now at full frame on the bottom and right side.

Hi Mark -- Good to see you back and hope your health issues a sorted out . loved the regal looking lady and the repost is certainly much better . TFS !