On the hunt

[Steve Kaluski]

Andreas, based on your posting I could not resist going back through the MKIII files, and in fact this one pop up last week, so I thought I would post it. Also it's a nice break from the owls and truck loads of PP ahead!!!! This was the 'spearhead' lioness of a pride of eight with cubs, they would slowly make their way through the tall grass, occasionally stopping to scan the area in the hope of an easy picking. Easy to plan and get into position, however you never see that OOF blade of grass that falls right in the mouth and masks the detail ooh for the 1Dx then.


Steve
Subject: Lioness in tall grass (Panthera leo)
Location: Maasi Mara
Camera: Canon MKIII
Lens: 500f/4 HH
Exposure: 1/1600s at f/5 ISO100 -0.33 stop compensation

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Steve,
do you want to show me what is possible to get with the MK III, do i hear a slight critique on my MK III files .............., if so ok i can stand it, as you know.
Do not understand why you want the Dx for this one , looks good to me.

The image : like the prowling pose with a good low POV, did you lean out of the door ,or has there been not even a door attached to the buggy.
Good colors and IQ as always, no question, but i do have some suggestions.

I think the comp is not ideal ,if you have i would lose space from LHS and top, and give more at the bottom, to give the lioness room to look and walk into the extra room, if not OK.
I might tone down some of the real highlights in the face.
Have you darkened the cheek ? Looks like , if so i think it looks a bit grey in color.

Nice job on achieving detail in the shadows.

All in all , well done

Cheers Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Andreas, no crtique, just a nice change to look at old files and how they compare, as i say this image popped up somewhere last week and thought I would post. Just love the Dx

ike the prowling pose with a good low POV, did you lean out of the door ,or has there been not even a door attached to the buggy.

No, just positioning of the vehicle in anticipation.

Sadly no more room below, liked the space to left as her head was more inline with the body and so there was less, then she stopped and turned just as I hit the trigger!

Happy to leave the highlights as they are not blown, but contain a hint/tone, the grey is in the file nothing added and would have never let it go, in two minds may take a look later?

Appreciate the feedback, nice to be on the other side of the fence.



Cheers
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks for clarifying the situation.
Luckily she turned the head , otherwise i think the RHS body would have been even more in shade ...........
I did not want to say the HL are blown , they are just a bit too dominant for my taste, specially on RHS as viewed ,over and under the eye.
Have you thought about lightening the eyes a tad more ?

I would still go for slight different comp , losing a bit from RHS and top, too much dead space , but leave it to you, you are the mastermind.

A person who is no longer visible here, called it "PIXELPEEPING", this kind fiddling with small things, if i remember correctly.

So happy peeping

Cheers Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Andreas, feel free to crop as you wish, correct or adjust, I'm happy to see your thoughts and learn too.

Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Ok Maestro,
took the liberty to illustrate what i meant, for sure can i NOT do it as good you making my thoughts come to life, but i try.
So i cropped , lightened the eyes and grey cheek,darkened the two spots around the right eye as viewed.All done in ACR.

WDYT ?

Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Steve,

I tried a tighter crop on this image (it looks pretty much like Andreas's RP) but was not happy with it, this lioness needs her space. That soft background at the top is also needed to balance a rather busy foreground, IMHO. IQ is there and your processing is impeccable as always, and Steve - would you please make a plan to join us in the Kalahari - you'll see lions almost every day and there's no tall grass in the riverbeds which makes it so much easier to process

Warmest regards,

[Loi Nguyen]

I'm with Gabriela here. My thought was the same about the soft BG on the left, but Gabriela explained it well. Andreas's crop focused more on the lion, but not the lion in the tall grass :). Loi

[edwardselfe]

I like what Andreas did with the shadows and the eyes, but I think it might be a bit too tight now. I would back up on the crop a little. It's hard to manage the dark areas since the light was obviously quite bright, even if it was still at a low angle. Think it's a tough one to perfect, but between Steve's and Andreas's looks pretty good. Tall grass on the lhs of the image would have balanced it better but you can't arrange that!!

Ed

[BenBotha]

The lioness is good, the environment not. Imo the out oof grass in front left is distracting. One of the situations in the bush where you have to work with what you have. Not much you could do more, execpt for getting out of the vehicle for a lower angle. Just joking, Ben