Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: B&W Lion portrait

  1. #1
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Nacka, Stockholm, Sweden
    Posts
    433
    Threads
    43
    Thank You Posts

    Default B&W Lion portrait

    Name:  _DSC6593.jpg
Views: 43
Size:  104.7 KB

    Lion from lake Nakuru, Kenya

    Nikon D3 and 600 mm f/4

    1/4000, iso 1250 - could have used less SS and better iso. well, well..

    Anyway, this is a picture I have worked some with doing my best trying to do a b&w conversion in LR4. Would love to have C&C, and maybe if someone wants to have a go here is the raw file.

    http://www.psykologbergquist.se/_DSC6593.nef (right click and choose save as)

    Last edited by Peter Kes; 11-11-2012 at 08:11 AM.

  2. #2
    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    NYC
    Posts
    14,320
    Threads
    929
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Hi Gregor - I think you've done well. Maybe burn the highlights a touch more and add some blacks to the blacks and neutrals in selective color. You've separated the lioness from the bg well and I think it was a good option to go darker on the bg and neutralize it. I'm not sure how you feel about cloning but if you are not opposed to it and since you've gone this far with the bg, you might want to clone out the diagonal branch in the urc.

    TFS,
    Rachel

  3. #3
    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Somewhere in the world
    Posts
    20,551
    Threads
    1,285
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    Hi Gregor, firstly I agree with your own observation, lower ISO, less SS.

    For me the image I feel is too contrasty and the blacks quite dominant, choking a lot of the shadow areas, however i'm not the greatest at B/W either. I would look to also adding some NR to the BKG just to help & smooth things out. All I have done is tried to balance the RAW, converted then to B/W in PS, added some mid tone contrast to the lighter areas via the Green channel as a Levels adjustment, Mid contrast as a Curves adjustment (adjusting quarter, mid & three quarter tone points), converted to Greyscale, then to a Duotone (quad tone) for toning, reverted back to an RGB file, cropped for presentation. Might not be right for your taste perhaps & the toning, but I think you can see there is a lot more detail in there that you can extract from the original that you have captured. Hope this may help in a direction and that others will also add their thoughts too, WDYT?

    TFS
    Steve
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

  4. #4
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Nacka, Stockholm, Sweden
    Posts
    433
    Threads
    43
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Hi

    Rachel, thank you. Glad you liked my idea to neutralize bg. I have tried to selective make it as dark and smooth (NR) as possible. Steve I think you got the lion much better, and I agree the I have to much contrast on the lion. Your way it stands out more and is more clean and natural. Bg I like to darken out (compare with Morkels B&W leopard). Comp I like it square, though I know a lot of people donīt. I think you are right Rachel about the diagonal branch.

    Thanks fore C&C and taking your time having a go.

  5. #5
    BPN Viewer
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    3,596
    Threads
    260
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    I really like Steve's pp on the lion but I would stick with your op crop as it gives more room on the rhs for the lion to look into and I, of course, have no issue with square crops. If you decide to work some more on the image following Steve's steps but darkening your background as you've done in your OP, I would just be very careful with haloing around the lion's head.

  6. #6
    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    South Africa
    Posts
    14,858
    Threads
    1,235
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Nice to see you experimenting here, Gregor.
    I agree with the comments above - Steve's lion texture/tone looks a bit better to my eyes.

    I don't mind the dark BG per se...pertaining to my leopard image I mostly achieved that through colour filtering in the conversion process, as opposed to excessive burning and contrast adjustments after the fact. It doesn't work in all images and it's an acquired taste. I'd like to see a repost with your lion looking more like Steve's but still with a dark BG?
    Morkel Erasmus

    WEBSITE


Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Web Analytics