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Thread: Cheetah with Cubs

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    Default Cheetah with Cubs

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    This is my first posting in this forum & I am lil bit tensed abt it.This is my favorite picture till date & i thought posting this pic first would make a good beginning.
    This was taken in Masai Mara in Aug/12 @ 8:30 a.m. on a bright sunny day.
    Camera : Nikon D90
    Lens : Nikor 500mm f/4
    Priority : Aperture
    Iso : 100
    E/v : -2
    Shutter speed: 1/800.

    Levels, cropping & sharpening done.

    Thanks everybody for C & C

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    Loved this. One thing I felt is that the image is a bit too warm.

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi and welcome to BPN and the Wildlife Forum. A very nice first post. I really like the pose of the adult and the comp though I would prefer a little more room below. A few suggestions, first take a look at the sticky at the top of the forum about saving for web. The color profile for your image was Adobe RGB rather than sRGB which means that there will be a color shift when viewed on the web. I also thought it was too warm especially for 8:30 which that time of year is about 2 or 2.5 hours after sunrise. It looks from your settings of -2 EV that the light was probably already pretty harsh and it shows in some of the whites. You might be able to recover a little more detail there in your RAW converter. I took it into CS6 and dropped the yellows and to a lesser extent the reds. Next I applied a curves adjustment to try and separate the cheetahs and stump from the bg a bit more and also added a couple of points of black in the neutrals. Finally, I tried to lighten the eyes but the shadows there are really strong. Of course, a lot of this is to taste and to some extent I exaggerated it to show you the difference. It would also be better if applied to the RAW file or tiff. Looking forward to seeing more of your images and your participation in other threads.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Hi Rachel,
    Many thanks for the warm welcome & the suggestions you have given.In fact i should honestly admit that the picture you have posted after PP, looks exactly the way i was looking at the cheetah & the cubs with my naked eyes.This has really pushed me back to Mara on that beautiful first sighting of cheetah.
    I would definitely go back to all the points you have mentioned in PP and make myself more literate in PP.
    Thanks once again for C & C...

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    A beautiful first image!! What a great find!

    A color cast, or a color temp that isn't the best, is one of the hardest things to learn to see. And it depends on a good monitor, properly calibrated.

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    BPN Viewer Tom Graham's Avatar
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    Very nice start for you here!!!!
    Agree with Diane M. and that for photo editing a good monitor is the most important piece of the PP system. These two articles by our esteemed member Roger Clark will explain a lot of this.
    http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/...tor/index.html
    http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/...tor/index.html
    And have a look around Roger's site anyway, wealth of photographic info there.
    Tom

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Eash, and another warm welcome.

    Rachel has covered a lot of the main points in relation to ensuring your image is correctly set for presentation on the web and the useful pointers you can find here on this site. I would suggest you take some time just to browse the Forum, as you will find a lot of interesting info to help aid your growth in photography and playing a part in contributing in other threads will not just bolster you knowledge, but also help the community spirt we have.

    Regarding the image, it's a cracking first image. The use of the old dead tree as a lookout point with the cubs at her feet is very appealing. The body pose and angle all work nicely. Certainly more space at the foot is required, it's all too tight. Looking at the EXIF data, f/11 is a little high, I think you could have dropped to around f/8, this would have increased your shutter speed, no problem with that as it's good to keep it reasonably high, but you could, if you wanted then dropped your ISO from 160 to 100.

    Looking at the image more closely there is a lot you can get out of it and Rachel has done a good job, your first port of call is the WB (White Balance), get this right, then you can adjust accordingly the other sliders etc to get the exposure looking good too. These two are key, the rest are minor corrections that you will come to learn in time and can build on. The main aim is to getting it right in camera, do that and you will save yourself a lot of time and dissapointment. Examining image, it has everything there, you just need to get the first steps right. Posting an image that has an RGB profile will push the warm a tad more, but even so, the image is just too Saturated overall, I just changed the WB and bingo it looks so much better.

    Look forward to more.

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

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Eash,
    another welcome to the forum from here in Germany.
    Good place to post your images and get good and honest critiques, hope you will learn from all of us, and we all from you and your thoughts about our images that we post here.

    Good image with very nice subject as your opener.
    Agree with the technical comments made by the others.

    like to see more of your stuff

    Cheers Andreas

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    Hi folks,
    I am overwhelmed by all of your welcome note & encouragement.I sincerely thank all of you for all your time to dissect my image in minute details, examine exhaustingly & give a honest technically strong response. I also want to thank my friend Dr Prasanna AV for referring to this highly interactive photo enthusiastic group.
    Thanks once again for your time.

    Dr Eash.

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    A belated warm welcome from me as well, Eash! I'm so glad you mustered up the courage to start posting, and I do hope that you will share more of your photos with us.
    With Rachel giving such thorough critiques these days, it really makes me think Steve and I can go on an extended vacation .

    A lot of points have been covered above. I like the image, the pose of mom and the morning light. First prize would have been having both little ones look at you as well - or at least have their faces side-profiled. Nothing you can do about that...

    The colour of Rachel's post looks good. I would add some noise reduction to the background. The sticky threads in the main wildlife forum are worthwhile to study - in terms of image posting and colour space correction and sharpening.

    Looking forward to more!
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    With Rachel giving such thorough critiques these days, it really makes me think Steve and I can go on an extended vacation.
    My thoughts entirely Morkel, just getting the flight now, see you at Mana Pools Saturday morning. Over to you Rachel and don't forget to switch the lights off.
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    My thoughts entirely Morkel, just getting the flight now, see you at Mana Pools Saturday morning. Over to you Rachel and don't forget to switch the lights off.
    Steve, remember your hiking boots and .308 rifle for warning shots. Gonna walk up to some lions
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    What? I'm not invited? If you both are away who's going to comment on my images?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rachel Hollander View Post
    What? I'm not invited? If you both are away who's going to comment on my images?
    I'll instruct my wife to log on and type some sort of pre-conceived general praise with a suggestion like "perhaps adjust levels slightly". That should do the trick?
    I think we are hijacking the Doc's thread now...
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Hi Eash and welcome. I really like the image and agree with Rachel on her repost. You have a great attitude right off the bat about being open to suggestions as I feel you can only benefit as I feel I have from the help here at BPN. Looking forward to more

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rachel Hollander View Post
    What? I'm not invited? If you both are away who's going to comment on my images?
    I Will

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    Quote Originally Posted by Morkel Erasmus View Post
    I'll instruct my wife to log on and type some sort of pre-conceived general praise with a suggestion like "perhaps adjust levels slightly". That should do the trick?
    I think we are hijacking the Doc's thread now...
    A touch of humor is always welcome folks..... like the way we keep our selves out of stress on long drawn surgeries !!!!!

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Fabulous image Dr. Eash, congratulations! I know it is a bit late, but I only discovered this image now and really enjoyed viewing it, as well as reading the comments of the two hijackers Love the sense of humor on this website, and when it follows a stunning capture like the one above I cannot help it but to read everything, and learn, and smile, and also thank Morkel for convincing me to join BPN

    Have a great week-end everyone!
    Gabriela Plesea

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