Classic cheetah posé

[Gregor Bergquist]

A classic cheetah posé from Masai Mara november 2011. I´m new in doing b/w conversions, this all in LR5. To much vignetting? Love to get C&C.



Nikon D3
Nikon 600 mm
f6,3 | 1/1000 SS | ISO-200 | -1/3 EV

Just cropped top 1/5 for comp, adjusted levels, sharpened, all the usual pp.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Gregor I think your cheetah pops nicely against the BG and I just love that slight movement of the grass behind the subject. My personal feeling is the vignetting is a bit too much (image too dark in the corners). I tend to overdo it myself, it's just easier to see it when someone else does the PP work, I was often told in the past to lose the vignetting now I try avoid it if I can help it...

Just one small thing: it looks to me like the cheetah's face is a little too white/overexposed? The eyes could do with a tad of lightening, I think. Let us see what the others say, this is just my humble opinion and I could be wrong. Overall a beautiful image and the conversion does it justice, nice work Gregor, and thank you so much for sharing!!!

Kind regards,

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Gregor,

I as well like the pose of the Cheetah, but not the vignette
Since you did it in LR, get rid of the vignette and try with the graduated filter just to do the same!
Leave the sky gray-ish that the Cheetah pops out more.
You can use as many as you like of those Graduate filters. They can be pulled in all directions!
Careful with the Cheetahs head, I as well think the head is overexposed.

Have a great weekend

Ciao
Anette

[BillTyler]

For me this image works really well in B/W. There's a great contrast between the textures of the grass (both the parts in and out of focus) and the crisp black markings on light fur on the cheetah itself. I suspect that in color, that contrast of textures would be overwhelmed by the color. Pose is great!

Bill

[Gregor Bergquist]

Hi and thanks for C&C

I have made a version according to your guidelines, removing vignette and pulled down exposure in face 1/3. For me I got to say I like it better in OP. Any suggestion for a better B/W conversion?

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Gregor - nice look at the cheetah and I like the sepia/coffee toning you chose in the conversion. Looks like the light was harsh and first thing I noticed is that the cheetah appears overexposed in areas including the face, legs and rump. I like what you have done in the rp to the cheetah's face but would do similar adjustments to the entire cheetah and not just the face or apply a luminosity mask to tame the highlights altogether. I'm not a fan of vignettes and generally avoid them but this is a personal taste thing.

The one thing I am unsure of is the comp of your image. It feels a little unbalanced to me, I feel like I want more room to the left, perhaps moving the cheetah to the right of center but realize that may not be possible. I think it's a case of wanting to know what has caught the cheetah's attention. No one else has mentioned this so it may just be me.

Overall, a few tweaks will really take this up a notch. Keep on experimenting with b&w.

TFS,
Rachel

[hennieloots]

Hi Gregor - Great sighting with beautiful habitat around. I agree with the comments above re the exposure, but in particular with Rachel's comment on the position of the cheetah in the comp. IMHO it works best if the subject is looking into space "into the image" - if that makes any sense! Eg, if this cheetah's head was angled more to it's left I think it would balance, or to move the cheetah towards the LHS will have a similar effect. Just my proposal on Rachel's comment, might be off and would also like to here opinion from the experts.
Enjoyed this lovely capture of a great animal.
TFS, Cheers
Hennie

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gregor, even on the laptop for me, the OP clearly shows you needed to address the face which you have done in the RP. Rachel has raised a good point re comp, however it does work as presented, but overall, having more space to look into would have improved the image, likewise a bit more below, this would have certainly taken the image up a gear. The vignette for me does give the image an older look of times gone by, but draws the eye to the subject. Not a lover of the horizon running through the neck, but it almost aligns with the body so I think it does work. Difficult to tell on the laptop, but if there is a slight colour tint to the image then it does help.

Any suggestion for a better B/W conversion?

Convert it in Photoshop as you can control it, however you can do a lot more, just depend on what direction you want to take it, more contrasty, gritty, duo tone... I think you need to be clear on the end result you wish to achieve, then you can process it accordingly. Perhaps slightly different to a colour image, but both have a common theme, the end result.

TFS
Steve

[Gregor Bergquist]

Many thoughts here. Glad and thankful for that.

I clearly agree that face and some of the body is a bit overexposed. I wanted the cheetah quite light, but I agree it was a bit to much.

What I like with the vignette is what it does with the center of the picture - creating a light space behind the cheetah without feeling that the picture overall is overexposed, making the horizon not just straight but still kind of natural (don´t know how to express it in english) and making grass in FG a bit darker/less exposure. The negative is the obvious vignette/dark corners.

I see what your thoughts is about the comp, a more traditional composition would probably be (i´m not a comp expert though) removing right hand side so that the cheetahs face comes on the 3rd line. In this case I have considered that, but decided I like it more this way.

Steve, I agree over the horizon. It is difficult. I think it works ok as it is. Would it be for example in the middle of his head, it would have ruined the picture. Did not think of it, but yes there would be good with just a tad more space below.

This is my thoughts. Adjusting exposure on the cheetah is easy, but how to accomplish the rest without vignette, I don´t know how.

[Steve Kaluski]

Steve, I agree over the horizon. It is difficult. I think it works ok as it is.

As I said Gregor, I think it does work as the horizon is soft and overall, it does 'blend' in. You could double process the image so you have one image for the BKG, the other for the cheetah and blend them together. Helps you then to get the balance right.

IMHO knowing how you wish to portray your images when you 'stray' from the conventional comes with time, but more importantly techniques you will grasp, read about, or explore as you learn/build on your Post production skills.

Build on your knowledge you have and hone it, but occasionally explore too, it can be fun. keep up the hard work

[Gregor Bergquist]

Thanks Steve. I´m trying.

Enjoying this when i have the time.

Still just on the LR (and starting with NIK collection), but I see that in the future adding PS to the tools seems inevitable.

/Gregor

[Steve Kaluski]

Gregor I personally would run with LR & PS, as they will do everything you want, and more. Adding NIK stuff is secondary at this stage of your development IMHO, as I think you may get side tracked because of the templates available. Try to avoid becoming that 'rabbit caught in the headlights', not knowing which way to turn, with all the software available.

[Morkel Erasmus]

I like the OP look & feel, and I like the vignette (what can I say, I'm a vignette man!)
I agree with comments about placement of cheetah vs empty space, though it does work. I like the colour tint of the OP too.
The Nik collection really does work great if used in moderation, but learn to achieve those results in LR+PS for yourself first...much more gratifying and edifying!
Good to see you experimenting.

[edwardselfe]

OP and RP have completely different feel to them. I don't like vignettes really but it does work in this image I think. Would try to get more tonality in cheetah's fur as mentioned.
Ed