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Thread: Muddy Lion

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    Default Muddy Lion

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    We saw this lion with mud all over her body next to on a shallow creek. A lean over the top of the safari told the story. The reek was muddy and in it lied a wildebeest. We came closer and saw the lion had a gash about 5 inches behind her left ear. She was tired and resting. I took a few shots, but felt sorry for the lion and so stopped taking shots and just watched her. Next day we came back to the same spot and she was gone, the wildebeest was half eaten. Amazingly, the birds and hyena hadn't discovered it. So we think the lion survived the ordeal.

    1DX
    500f4 II
    1/400
    f5.6
    ISO-800

    Removed a distracting branch of grass.
    Took a sliver off the bottom.
    Levels, Curves to add contrast, Saturation + 10
    Late afternoon just before sunset.

    Appreciate your comments.

    Thank you

    loi

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    Wow, this does depict the rough life in the bush for these animals. Nice comp and detail Loi. TFS.

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    Forum Participant edwardselfe's Avatar
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    There's a strong blue cast which you could remove to improve the colours a bit.... Otherwise nice story here.
    Ed

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    BPN Member Anette Mossbacher's Avatar
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    Hi Loi,I agree with Edward with the blue. When you do the WB correct that will really improve the colors and lose the blue! My guess you used the nose, check the eye pupil in the right eye, get that right on the sweet spot!Have a great weekendCiao Anette

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    Hi Loi - Super shot of not the usual lion portrait. I love the mud/texture, blood on the mouth and the color in the eyes makes this shot for me. The DOF works well IMO. I too see the blue cast, although I suppose it should not be there, I like the mood/tone it sets in this image. Thanks for the story behind the pic.
    TFS
    Hennie

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    BPN Member Douglas Bolt's Avatar
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    Curves-Auto is very easy and makes a big improvement. However, Curves plus a little tweeking of the RGB components will do even better.
    Douglas Bolt
    DougBoltPhotography.com

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Loi, f you address the above issues you should be good to go, although personally I might try and tone down the blades of grass above the head, not much you can do with the ones under the chin. Perhaps a sliver off the top, WDYT? Wet fur can be tricky, but overall are you happy with the depth & tone of the image, I wonder if you moved the exp to the right a little too much??? Just a thought.

    Having the intro bolsters the image, thanks.

    TFS
    Steve
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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    Hi Everyone, Thank you for your time commenting on this image. Agreed that it had a blue cast. I took Anette's tip for removing blue cast by decreasing the Blue in Hue/Saturation here in the RP. Alos, toned down the BG with Curves and cropped a bit tighter.

    Steve, the out of camera image looks a bit flat, so I took the white down to about 229 and the mid point at 1.05. I put the mid point back to 1.00 here in the RP.

    Honestly, I think this image is that it is not as sharp as it could be. SS = 1/400 should be OK, but it was on a safari van with people moving about, so that could be a factor.

    Thanks again.

    Loi

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Loi, without seeing the converted RAW I couldn't tell you if adjusting to those figures are right, however if you did the little trick with the keyboard then fine.

    I still think there is stuff you can do around the exposure and have fired off a quick example, but not sure as it's on the laptop. I do feel however you need to explore more with higher ISO. I agree that if you can get the right DOF & SS the lower the ISO the better, however don't be afraid to push it, that is why you have the 1DX. Nikon bods have been lucky in the past, now you have the opportunity to capture images that were perhaps a little out of reach before, go for it and try it.
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Nice intro story and fitting portrait showing a sombre expression, Loi. Some good pointers given already, I would agree with Steve it looks underexposed and I would certainly have no issue bumping ISO to 3200 or 6400 on your Machine of a camera...

    Colour in RP looks much better than OP.
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Loi - rp looks better and you've gotten some excellent advice above. I do really like the color of the eyes and how they pop in the image.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Loi, well looking at the RAW I have to say, and agree with you, the sharpness is not as expected, so IQ will suffer. If it's not sharp in RAW then bin, IMHO there is nothing much more you can do, perhaps keep it as a record shot, but to try and make something isn't really going to work and wasting your valuable time, you can be out in the field shooting more.

    The 'Blue' is in the original and you are not going to remove a huge amount as the blacks start to look weak. Having found as close to as a mid grey point was the basis for the WB setting, how you tweak it there after is down to you as you were there. I gave it a Curves tweak for the blacks & Whites as a half tone adjustment, tweaked the Blacks in selective colour and added a Mid tone overall (?), perhaps knocked the Opacity back a fraction. Basically you want more depth in the image I feel. Not the greatest removal of the blades of grass, but it gives you a starting point.

    Hope it helps.

    Cheers
    Steve
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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