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Thread: Another lion drinking

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    Default Another lion drinking

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    I have not posted in some time, so here goes. This is another image in a sequence I took some time back of a lion drinking at Cubitjie quap waterhole in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. This year is the 20th that i will be heading to the park and not many images of a Kalahari lion provides me with inspiration to return than this one. The light is something to behold and besides for Namibian light, I have not seen light like it anywhere else.
    Camera details as follows:
    Camera: Canon 1Ds Mk III
    Canon EF 500mm LUIS
    Aperture: f4
    Shutter speed: 1/500
    ISO: 400
    The image was processed in LR4 and CS6 on a 15" MBP. Surface and edge masks were applied to reduce noise and sharpen.
    Any crits and comments most welcome.
    Best wishes, Mark.




    Last edited by Peter Kes; 01-09-2013 at 05:46 PM.

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Mark - nice to see you posting again and the light certainly is wonderful. Nice low pov and the stare from the lion is great, so is the tongue out. Central placement works fine here. I'm wondering if this is a large crop or if you had to recover the brights a bit as some of the areas look a bit smooth (left side of lion's face and mane as we view it). Also there's no color profile embedded so you might want to repost.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Hi Rachel,
    Well spotted, it is a crop, but I removed a little off the bottom and top. I wanted the lion positioned centrally within the image due to the forward look of the lion. The flatness you refer too is probably due to the highlights slider and white slider in LR4 that I used as I pushed it a bit too much and also due to a luminosity mask adjustment I did to reduce the bright lights. I will do a repost when time allows and know with a few tweeks it can be improved. Thanks for your comment, it is much appreciated.
    Best wishes,
    Mark.

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    BPN Viewer Steve Canuel's Avatar
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    Hey Mark,
    I like the comp here with the centered face creating a nice focus point.

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    Very nice male lion, very nice light! I agree with Rachel on the left side of his face but it's not blown out so could be adjusted. One thing which stands out to me, this lion is alerted by something. His eyes are round, his pupils small. What caused this disturbance? That's the question I find asking myself when I see this image.

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    Thanks Rachel, Steve and Egil for your comments.
    Egil, the people in the car behind me had young children in the car and it is my experience that these big cats can show a little more interest when young children are in vehicles. On the other hand it may have been the sound of the shutter that alarmed the lion, I am just not entirely sure. However, I like the way this lion is looking at the vehicle immediately behind mine, it is just a pity he was not looking directly at me.
    Best wishes Mark.
    I will post another image of this lion once I have done a bit more work to it.

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    Egil, I think the pupils are small because the sun is in his face, so that's just normal. any movement could have made him look like that, because a cat always focuses on movement, or at least in my experience. I love this picture. love the light. Maybe darken the face just a tiny bit? especially on the left?
    Best wishes, Carole

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    Hi Carole,
    Thank you for your comment.
    I have made some changes and I am now happy with the result. I removed a contrast mask and a non destructive dodge and burn layer while adding a curves layer and basic mid tone contrast using soft light as a LBM. I could add a little more mid tone contrast but think what has been added is adequate. What I did note is that the edge mask that I use for sharpening does not pick up much detail on the left side of the face and mane and this may account for te softness on this side of the face which I have rectified in this image.
    Thanks for commenting and all the best,
    Mark.


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  13. #9
    Robert Amoruso
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    Mark,

    The RP was a much improved look over the original where I found the hues to be a bit too toasty.

    If possible, a slightly higher vantage point would have been good to remove the out of focus rocks in the FG.

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    I love this series Mark, magnificent example of Kalahari lion and light.
    RP is much better, I'd burn the highlights and midtones even more!
    Morkel Erasmus

    WEBSITE


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    You know I like this image Mark! Stunning light and awesome eye contact! RP the better one of the two!

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