A beautiful image in great light! My initial impression was that it's leaning too much to green, but maybe not, on looking longer. That's just an artistic choice.
I have to wonder how it would look with the very dark upper BG lightened, though. It's probably just a thing I have, but dark areas at the top of an image leave an imbalanced feel for me. I think to lighten it while holding IQ you would probably best do it in RAW processing.
I rather agree with DM about the green. Green grass is so saturated that it draws me away from cheetah. Cheetah, that does not have much color? Except those eyes are wonderful!!!
Tom
Last edited by Tom Graham; 08-29-2013 at 07:03 PM.
Hi Russell - I like the comp here and the fantastic eye color and contact. For me, there is a cyan cast so I dropped the cyans and then darkened the greens and added a tiny bit of saturation to the greens all in a hue/saturation layer. WDYT?
A beautiful image in great light! My initial impression was that it's leaning too much to green, but maybe not, on looking longer. That's just an artistic choice.
I have to wonder how it would look with the very dark upper BG lightened, though. It's probably just a thing I have, but dark areas at the top of an image leave an imbalanced feel for me. I think to lighten it while holding IQ you would probably best do it in RAW processing.
Thanks, Diane, I think that Rachel picked up on the cyan cast, though the cheetah is in the middle of shallow swamp, and the rains make the environment quite vibrant.
I am comfortable with the background, which is a dense mopane woodland, I don't see the need to the need to lighten and even out every part of an image.
I rather agree with DM about the green. Green grass is so saturated that it draws me away from cheetah. Cheetah, that does not have much color? Except those eyes are wonderful!!!
Tom
Tom - that is the environmental colour of the delta at his time of the year.
In terms of the cheetah - I have moved away from the warm look of overly yellow/orange cheetahs, so the colour is spot on from my experience.
Hi Russell - I like the comp here and the fantastic eye color and contact. For me, there is a cyan cast so I dropped the cyans and then darkened the greens and added a tiny bit of saturation to the greens all in a hue/saturation layer. WDYT?
TFS,
Rachel
Thanks, Rachel, you are probably right on the cyans. Will check when I get home.
I know that I globally reduced the reds in LR, though in hindsight, should have made the curves adjustment in PS more selectively. Tough to get the colours all balanced out when the green dominates the frame.
I love this image and my eye keeps being drawn back to it. I downloaded and put into LR and played around a bit and I see why you have chosen to maintain the cool blue/green WB that you have in your OP. However, for me, there needs to be a bit more colour in the cat to give it some life, but I see why you don't want to overdo the orange/yellow as it wrecks the image completely! I had a go at it and think it's possible to strike a balance but don't want to post something that might not be what you saw. However during the process, I considered a B&W option, which to me looks amazing. All the details on the grass and the pose of the cheetah work very well together. Just an idea.
I like the setting and the dark BG here Russell. Rachel did a good job on initial colour correction. I would look at adding a hint more yellow/red to the cheetah, although the lack of them certainly shows off the amber eyes. What was the light condition here? The way the eyes are lit up seems strange for the softer light on the cheetah?
Hi Russell, happy with the BKG, and knowing the Delta, it provides an excellent setting & backdrop for the animals that inhabit it.
Russell if you just warm the whites of the Cheetah, then adjust the green in HSL then I think you are there. The eyes, well personally I think, it just comes down to how the cat is lit, so whether they stay as is, or you drop the saturation a fraction is personal taste IMHO. I really like the format and choice of placement of the subject, space works well. Tom, thought you might have suggested flipping it? Joking apart, like Morkels Elephants, it's the low POV that make it for me and which came make the image a 'pedestrian' one, or just brilliant, angles can play such a crucial role in an image.
Not sure if this helps, brings a bit more definition to the grass and softens the whites a fraction.
TFS
Steve
PS Getting any sleep these days?
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Meant to add, have you tried Permajet, Oyster is fab and all prints that go out are done on that, but consistency is perfect time & time again. Call me if you want any more info.
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Very impressive image. However, I do find the greens/cyans saturation detracted a little, but that is probably because I didn't see the original scene.
I tweaked the Sat/Lum settings in ACR.
Very impressive image. Steve pointed out that the low POV made the image already and brought out more details on the cat. I like Douglas's interpretation as it shows the cat more against a more subdued BG. I'm OK with the dark BG on top, don't think you can lighten it without introducing noise and other artifacts. The nearly Red eyes are just amazing. I have no idea that Cheetah have such eyes! TFS. Loi
Thanks for all the comments and feedback, as I mentioned early, have taken out some of the global adjustments and applied them selectively via PS rather than LR , which made more of a difference. Added a touch of warmth across the image.
@ Steve - I never get enough sleep, though work does not help there!
For those interested, I have also done a jpg of the untouched RAW file. As you can see, the WB was all over the place, so it has been a hard image to work with.
A slighty different spin on the same image, dont quite trust my tired eyes at the moment, perhaps somewhere in between it my thinking, and/or a lumo mask.
Dodgy AWB....
Repost
Last edited by Russell Johnson; 08-30-2013 at 07:27 PM.
SORRY - I DON'T KNOW WHY THERE ARE TWO IMAGES HERE. I THOUGHT I HAD DELETED THE TOP ONE.
Took my own shot at color balance using yours frame #16. Considering in the image I see long side shadows I expect the image to be on the warm side. Played around in Photoshop, cheetah looked better but top sky went funny cyan color. So cropped most of sky out. And flipped so cheetah looking left. Anyway, just for kicks here is -
(Still a bit too warm for me but difficult to get balance I really liked).
Tom
Last edited by Tom Graham; 08-31-2013 at 12:22 AM.
Hi Russell, what was the WB set to in the original RAW, (cloudy), can't see why it would make a difference, as you just change it in RAW when you start the conversion?
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Hi Russell,
besides the fact it is great image not only because of the POV and the comp, like the walk into the viewers face.
I do not understand why to change the colors that dramatically after seeing the RAW.You have been there and you must know best if the colors has been that warm tones or a bit cooler.
If this was mine i would go slightly !!! cooler in color than the original , not much, looks like a nice velvia touch.All other versions looking more like Sensia or other Fuji cool colors.
But as always it is a question of personal taste and what feel you want to achieve in PP.
Would love to have this kind of image from this beautiful cat.
Hi Russell, what was the WB set to in the original RAW, (cloudy), can't see why it would make a difference, as you just change it in RAW when you start the conversion?
Steve, just wanted to double check in DPP, and it was set to cloudy - hence the distortion in the colour (was using it for an overcast afternoon). Agreed, does not make much difference when I start converting. I guess the point I was trying to get across was that my starting point was quite a way off due to this, so visually corrections to the WB can look quite significant. Would probably be better if I edited over 2/3 days, coming back each time to reassess.
It was quite late last night when I posted, though I was trying to highlight the whole - you were there element to decide a WB for an image. I can't remember the exact light conditions, except it was great light in the dustless green season, so editing an image 3.5 years on, eliminating casts was a good starting point.
Hi Russell,
besides the fact it is great image not only because of the POV and the comp, like the walk into the viewers face.
I do not understand why to change the colors that dramatically after seeing the RAW.You have been there and you must know best if the colors has been that warm tones or a bit cooler.
If this was mine i would go slightly !!! cooler in color than the original , not much, looks like a nice velvia touch.All other versions looking more like Sensia or other Fuji cool colors.
But as always it is a question of personal taste and what feel you want to achieve in PP.
Would love to have this kind of image from this beautiful cat.
TFS Andreas
Thanks, Andreas, as mentioned in my post back to Steve, just trying to work out the right direction to take the colour.
Lovely image. Those cheetah eyes really glows in sun light. Very nice portrait. As discussed, color is difficult in this one. I know the feeling (at least it is often so for me), sitting in front of the computer fiddling around with colors and after a while you are lost. My bet is to try think less about techs and more on what your vision with the image is. That sad, of the different reposts so far, my vote is for Steves.
Okavango Cheetah
Russell Johnson thanked for this post
Originally Posted by Diane Miller
Joking apart, like Morkels Elephants, it's the low POV that make it for me and which came make the image a 'pedestrian' one, or just brilliant, angles can play such a crucial role in an image.
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