The Aftermath

[Andre Pretorius]

One of the Sisters of the Lijersdraai-Clan drinking at the waterhole, returning from a night of frenzy killing and gluttony, before spending the heat of the day underground in the den among the young and rest of the sisterhood. This image was taken before calibration, not as sharp as I would like it to be.

Nikon D3S, 600F4
1/2500 @ F5.6
ISO 640

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andre, 51 views and no responses, well lets start the ball rolling.

I like the image and the posture of the Hyena, as the stance and fixed expression conveys that menacing look. The higher SS has also worked, freezing the splash from the front leg, adds a nice bit of interest to the image. Conveying a low POV works, but I think you could loose say half the space on the RHS between trim & tail, the small rock on the LHS, the top would then work in pro with coming in, so again you have less above. I can't really judge colour as I'm still away, will leave that with Morkel, but the blue of the water looks a little too saturated, well for my tastes. Not sure if I am seeing a halo along the lower jaw going back to the throat? Is this FF or a crop, if a crop by roughly how much? Again, the focus point should be on the head (no quite sure if that is where it is?), bang on that eye as that is the key focus and the area that pulls you in, forget about having on the body or anywhere else.

Andre, you are cracking the PP side, and my thoughts & comments regarding that I will keep between us, but seriously the images recently posted are proving that you are moving in the right direction, frustrating at times I know, but it will all come together.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Andre - love the splash and the intensity of the look. Both add a lot to the image as does the low pov. I am away too so cannot comment on color either. I too see what I think is more a selection halo along the lower jaw and also along the top of the rump and tail.

TFS,
Rachel

[Andre Pretorius]

Thanks Steve and Rachel. Worked the image again from RAW. Less is more, to quote Steve.. LR3 did basics, tried Tony Kuyper luminous masking with lights, inverted for darks; did curves?, levels and colour balance; lights and darks, sharpen as per Master, resized. The image is almost FF, cropped from behind, cloned out stone in front, sliver at bottom and on top to balance crop. WDYT?

[Jamie Douglas]

Great looking image Andre and good job that stare isn't directed at you. The Lumo mask takes it up a notch in the repost. Tony Kuyper's lightening mask helped improve a snowy owl image of mine recently, so I have his site book marked.

[Russell Johnson]

Looks like you are on the right track PP wise. Personally my preference would be for an edit between the OP and RP.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Love the moment here, Andre. Good job in getting the splash and a "mean look".
I prefer the repost. Colours look good and represent what I would expect in the Kalahari (both hyena and surroundings), except for the blue water - usually when I'm there the water is quite dirty?

[Andre Pretorius]

Thank you for comments and views. Morkel, on the image the water was blue, I think it was the angle the sun was hitting it, it was early morning, around 8- the clan was returning to the den. Steve also mentioned the water, there was no specific work done on water, maybe when I did the colour balance on the Hyena with the luminosity mask, might influenced the water. Thanks to Steve I do have a big PSD file to go back to, see what I can do.

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks to Steve I do have a big PSD file to go back to

Hi Andre it's the way to go, you can then go back at anytime to adjust, make changes from ongoing feedback refine, recrop, etc, with ease. The only downside is you will require large & more ext HD, RAID etc to store you images, but remember, 'mirror' ALL work!

BTW I could easy expand your files even more with a simple Pref change, but I think for now lets keep things simple, great work, keep it coming.

[Andre Pretorius]

Remember what Anette once advised to remove blue cast: Saturation layer, pull back on blues...Did not use mask, the water was the only blues.

[Brendon Cremer]

Lovely image Andre, i think pretty much all has been covered, so just adding my 2 cents. I really like your second post with the blue in the water, your last post with the blue removed is ok but i prefer the blues, the last post is also lacking sharpness, so for me your second post is spot on.

[Andre Pretorius]

Thanks Brendon, I agree looking at it now that the second post was more sharper, the blue was as the image was captured. Shows you, we all are looking at an image with a different eye...

[edwardselfe]

Cool image - with real menace in those eyes. I also prefer when the blue is less saturated. I guess you are trying to represent truthfully what you saw, but it looks a little 'unlikely' in such a bleak environment. Anyway, whichever way you process it, it's a great image.
Ed