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Thread: A beautiful lady from our National Zoo

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    Default A beautiful lady from our National Zoo

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    Shot this beautiful lady yesterday at the National Zoo. Used the 1DIV, 400mm @ f/8.0, ISO 640, 1/500 HH. I love big cats. Could spend all day there:) C&C Greatly appreciated.

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Don - Zoos can be a great place to shoot and practice and she is a beautiful lioness. Looks like the light was harsh (happens often with zoos due to the hours when they are open) and some of the highlights look blown (on the right side as looking). I'm not sure what raw converter you are using and it may be possible to recover a bit more there. I took the image into CS6 and did a few adjustments. I hope you don't mind. First I did a luminosity mask to try and tame the highlights, dodged the most affected areas a little bit more, then I adjusted the midtones in levels, reduced the blacks in selective color by a couple of points, reduced the reds overall and lightened the eyes with a screen mask. Finally, I cropped slightly to remove some of the blown leg and to put the head slightly off center. A lot of this is to personal taste and there's been some IQ loss since I was working on your posted jpeg. WDYT? I hope to see more of your wildlife images.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Forum Participant edwardselfe's Avatar
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    Wow - it's super sharp. You obviously rested your camera well and chose your moment well. I agree with Rachel's comments, but I would add that you did well to create a natural-looking shot by including some foliage and grass around the cat - it might be a little distracting around her right ear, but it does a lot to persuade the viewer that it wasn't shot in a zoo!
    I like the paleness and delicateness (a word?) of her fur, which you captured perfectly.
    Ed

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Don, Rachel has covered a lot of ground in her response and some valuable tips too. I would agree that using zoos can provide some excellent training providing you can avoid glass panels and they are are lot cheaper too, however gaining experience out is the field is still the best way. If you take a shot always check the histogram, this will help to avoid clipping or blowing the whites. The image looks well processed although lifting areas like the eyes and little shadow areas as Rachel has done certainly moves it along nicely. A square crop also works. Not much more really to add which is great, looks like you know your stuff.

    Look forward to more and please feel free to chime in on other postings, as Artie says, don't be shy.

    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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    Rachel, thank you for such a detailed response. I like youy re-post very much. I am struggling with my processing skills. I have to try and learn more techniques to try and improve m phoitos after he shot.

    I was very happy to even get a shot at the zoo with no obvious signs like the fences or walls. I will keep shooting/practicing as I do.

    Thanks for the comments and suggestions everyone.

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