This is a FF image of a lioness and her fresh kill. We spent more than 30 min watching this lioness feeding. She didn't mind us being there at all. There was also another female plus two cubs, who were resting nearby. The time was 10AM and the sun was a bit hash, but the lioness was partially in the shade of a tree.
1DX
500F4 II
1/1250
f5.6
ISO-400
BLUBB Bean Bag from safari vehicle
Hi Loi, the first thing that hits me with the image is that it needs more below, for both the 'virtual feet & carcass'. Yes it's clear what is happening, but were you able to move position, as pulling a little further out and moving more to the right would, IMHO given a better picture of what is happening and the whole kill would have been visible, likewise the lion, still with her looking towards you. As you spent a serious amount of time and she showed no sign of stress, anxiety etc, then once you get the shot you want, it's always good to move position/angle for variety and sometimes you can get a better shot too.
Just looking at the image and this is just my take, I wonder if it's all a tad yellow? Taking a reading off the horn it's not too far of a mid grey point, this then subdues the overall colour and i wonder if that is more in keeping??? Dropping the black in the Yellow channel, plus adding a Graduate adjustment to the top RH corner down also softness the light a bit, IMHO. You were there and the 1DX is very faithful in colour so it's just a thought. I would also try to lift a bit more out of the shadow content of the wound, gives a bit more detail, but don't use shad/Highlight, I much prefer Curves as it's softer.
Takes for also taking time to comment on other posts, we ALL very much appreciate it.
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
great sighting. I agree with Steve, especially with the RHS BG. For me as well is quite bright. But that is easy done. The details looks great. Steve gave you already great suggestions for this one.
For moving the vehicle while having also other tourists on board. I usually talk to the driver/guide, when I want to move the position. Works very well, as even the tourists on board see a difference!
Try it out next time!
Hi Loi - it's always nice to see lions feeding. Nice sharpness and detail. I agree about the framing. It seems that at times the fixed focal length of the 500 was actually a disadvantage as you had little flexibility for framing absent moving the vehicle (which as Steve and Anette said is usually possible at a longer sighting). Another option if you have a second body is to have a zoom on it to give you that flexibility.
Hi Steve, Anette, and Rachel, you have been great help. Now that Steve pointed out that the image needs more bottom, it looks obvious. I have another similar image with just a wee bit more bottom, so I will repost here. The lion's eye wasn't as wide open though. I also dropped the exposure by 1/3EV, so the BG is not as bright and used Curves to lift the shadow just a tad. Per Steve's suggestion, I used the Selective Channel Color and dropped the Black in the Yellow Channel by -25 (thank you, this is a new tool for me). I don't know how to do the Gradual adjustment in CS6 yet, so left it alone. As for color balance, I used Auto setting. Did try Day Light, but it was too Yellow.
I'm not sure if we did re-positon the vehicle, perhaps not. I was sharing a row with another person, so I opted for the low view thru the side window. I should have been more careful with the feet.
Hi Loi, given the choice between the two for composition I prefer the OP. The RP IMHO looks better colour wise and spot on to where I was going in my thinking, if i'm right? I think the RP lacks now some contrast, or oomph just to give it an edge so to speak, as tonally it now looks a little flat. When I use Curves in in conjunction with Channels to, so it's not a straight forward adjustment. Graduate is easy, better in LR IMHO, however LR & ACR use the same module, drop me an email not a PM when you have a minute.
I should have been more careful with the feet.
Loi, sometimes it's not always obvious, this is why Forums like this work, especially when people chime in on threads, as you cannot buy (well to a certain degree you can) the broad spectrum of help & advice based on experience.
cheers
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Hi Loi - good points again by Steve. I prefer the tilt of the head in the op. In addition to Steve's observations, I would tone down a couple of the brighter spots on the kill in the rp.
I prefer the op as well, the colors don't bother me. If it were mine I would use the diamond sharpener on the eye and perhaps viveza in NIK to bring out the color there. Her look is super.
The lack of feet it not too bothersome to me, perhaps a pano crop with some extra processing to get the viewer to look at the face primarily. I think the image has some real possibilities.
Per Rachel's comment I just got back from 42 days in SA and Namibia (for fun and work) and used my 500 on my Mark IV and my 70-200 (with a 2x at times) on my 5D III and liked my options at all times.
Thank you all. I will start from scratch with the OP. Agreed that the eye/head angle is better. Stan, is there a link you could point me to as to hpw to use "the diamond sharpener on the eye and perhaps viveza in NIK tools?'I'm working with CS6 and I do have the NIK plug in.
Loi,
I don't know of a link but I'll give you a run down of what I would do.
In CS6 increase the size of the image to 200% and center on the eye. Grab the diamond sharpener on the left on the tool palette and set the strength to 8 to 10%. I just sharpen the pupil and the catchlight in the eye. When you think you are done go back to normal size then see if you like the effect yet, if not, try it some more or if it's too sharpened delete your work in the history and try again.
Then using Viveza again zoom into the eye, it will probably take 300% and it may look a little strange. Set a control point directly on the eye and reduce the size of the control point so it just covers the eye (this is not always easy because it's so small). It's key to get the control point size right though because if you start to affect the area around the eye it will look bad. Then I will try and increase the light by using the shadow tool (maybe 10 - 15%) but with a lion that may be too much because their eyes are light in color already. Then I'll increase the contrast (10 - 25%); add saturation (10%); and then increase the structure (20 - 30 %). You will have to play with this to get it what you like. You will probably have to zoom out and back in a few times. If both eyes are showing, once you get the effect you like just hit control D and move the new control point over to the other eye and you're done. I know this sounds like you are pumping it up a lot but you're only working in a very small area and an even smaller part of the image. All I want anyways is to make the eye (s) a little more visible by increasing the color of the iris, the brightness of the catchlight, and increasing contrast so the pupil is more noticeable.
NIK has many tutorials on line and I've seen their pros using much of what I've explained above to you but I don't know about any specific "eye" tutorial. Since my primary wildlife focus is bears whose eyes are always in a shadow I've got some other tricks as well but this should make that lioness's eye a tad more noticeable.
Hello Everyone. Thank you for your comments. I finally had the time to sit down and review Artie's Digital Basics with selective adjustments of different parts of the images by putting them on different layers. So I reduced the brightness of the RHS by using the Shadows/Highlights slider, putting the lion and her eye on separate layers, so I could brightened the eye without affecting the body. Simple stuff, but I didn't know how to do before. I also sharpened the eye more. Hope you like it. RAW Conversion was done in DPP, everything else in CS6.
Lioness Standing Over Fresh Kill, Serengeti
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