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Thread: African Wild Cat (C)

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Default African Wild Cat (C)

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    Captured this African Wild Cat while grooming itself, at some point a little fur got stuck to her tongue and I quickly managed a few frames. Handheld, VR on.

    Nikon D3S
    Nikon 300 F2.8
    F6.3
    ISO800
    1/1250
    EV -0.7 (unfortunately I just got back my camera from Nikon after calibrating and service, did not realise they have changed some of my settings until I got home and downloaded images)

    Thank you for viewing,
    Last edited by Rachel Hollander; 11-03-2013 at 10:43 AM.
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    Nice detail here Gab, love the pink tongue and fur goatee!

    Quote Originally Posted by Gabriela Plesea View Post
    (unfortunately I just got back my camera from Nikon after calibrating and service, did not realise they have changed some of my settings until I got home and downloaded images)
    Same thing happened to me after a Nikon service, in one of my Custom group settings the had changed the setting to JPEG only , I had a full day shooting @ Selous before I noticed!!


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    Gabriela, this is a lovely portrait of a hard to see species. Looks like that cat was posing for you? Is it in the wild? Lovely BG. Could also be a square crop. Loi

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Ouch, Marc! I fully understand how that feels. Here I am, all excited to look at my images barely taken minutes ago, err...something does not look right, here and there a lack of detail in the blacks, some unnecessary noise, eyes wonder immediately to the top left corner for settings and voila!!! EV -0.7 while everything else is just about right...I had forgotten my glasses and could not look at my images while on site, and was also a bit distracted after a late night with friends. Oh, I was so arrogant thinking " I know what I am doing"...

    Thank you so much for viewing and comments, always appreciate it

    Warmest regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriela - fantastic portrait of a wild cat. Excellent detail, color and comp. I like everything about this one including the fur ball.

    TFS,
    Rachel

  6. #6
    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Loi, hello!!! Great to hear from you, thank you for viewing

    This image was taken this morning at a place called Emdoneni-this is a sanctuary mainly for cats, and I know for a fact that some of those animals get rehabilitated and return into the wild. I have been visiting Emdoneni for the past twenty years, and especially when little babies of Wild Cats, Servals or Cheetahs were born. The place is only minutes away from our home; we took friends there this morning to see the animals and had our cameras with us, in case the sun came up ( overcast this morning). Not all wildlife at Emdoneni is tame but we were fortunate to touch some of the permanent residents (Cheetahs and Serval). The cheetah I was stroking was purring, I took great delight in sitting next to her...

    Tried a square crop but then decided to do something different, soon I will post another image of a Wild Cat with a square crop

    Warmest regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriela - based on your response to Loi I added a (C) to your title to indicate a captive animal. Not a big deal but please note forum rules require an indication of when an image is of a captive animal.

    Thanks,
    Rachel

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Thank you Rachel, I think this is the first time I post such an image-read the forum rules some time ago, but forgot-my apologies, will familiarise myself again with the rules.

    Kind regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriella, good to get some more practice in, wether it's Wild or Captive it's not an issue, as they often behave in the same manor, so the more you get to shoot the better you become. Certainly in this instance although still annoying to discover setting have changed, at least it was here, and not in the Kalahari

    Looking at the image I don't mind the crop and I quite like the clump of fur adds interest and tip of the tongue poking out. Personally I might have like a bit more DOF i.e. f/8 or 9? I do however feel it's a little crunchy, either too much Contrast or Clarity and also slightly over sharp. The vibrant green does create a strong backdrop for standout of the subject.

    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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    Lovely image Gabriella, great detail and nice oof bg, i would have maybe upped the aperture a little to get the far ear in focus but otherwise, good colours and the fur and the licking of lips adds nicely to the image

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    Amazing detail and I like the added fur. It almost looks like the remains of prey which was my question till you answered it.

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Thank you for your comments and constructive critique, I am considering a rework on this image, hopefully I can fix that "crunchy" look. Just for interest' sake, this cat is not tame and cannot be touched. She is the mother of two-the youngsters are born in captivity and one of them is quite friendly, also very playful and so entertaining to watch. Regarding aperture, all I can say to "defend my actions" is, I saw my images were rather dark (because of the -0.7EV) and blamed it on the clouded sky. Did not want to push ISO too high to avoid noise, and wanted the BG to be soft, so I shot at F6.3-a compromise, and it seemed like a good idea at the time

    Kind regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    A lovely portrait Gabriela...so nicely offset against the green...
    Pity about the settings, now I know what to look out for when my stuff goes in for calibration and service soon!
    I agree with Steve that it looks a bit oversharpened, particularly the forehead and ears - easy to pull back though
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Thank you dear Morkel, you are so kind. It's crunchy, I know, even though you did not mention it again, thank you for not rubbing it in . Had a look at the RAW last night -I have about three in sequence- they all look sharp to me, did an RP but was not happy with it, I am not giving up though, will try again tonight, starting from LR...and with no red wine

    Talking about Nikon, the guys in the technical department were fantastic and I was very impressed with the service, cleaning and calibration-all done in three days and delivered asap. Do check your settings when you get your equipment back...

    Warmest regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Hi Gabriela - Like the tuft of of hair. Gorgeous BG and nice portrait of AWC. Those green eyes always impress me. All the rest said above

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Default Still Crunchy?

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    Do not know whether this is acceptable, I have just worked on what I thought to be the same image of this cat but it seems I have chosen a similar one, probably the next frame. IQ is the same, no change in settings just taken a fraction of a second later. Did a few LR adjustments, the same big crop, less sharpening and no contrast. Then moved to Photoshop and sharpened the image overall, had to blur the BG a bit. No layers and no masks, minimal work. What do you think?

    Kind regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Forum Participant edwardselfe's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriella,

    I prefer the second image in all ways. It's nicely sharp but not too much and there's the hint of the second eye which is missing in the first image. I would like to see a little more of the cat's neck though, as per the first image.

    Ed

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Thank you Carl and Edward,

    The two images are almost identical, save for the tongue position and left eye. I must have sharpened too much the first time around, and perhaps too much contrast as well. I did so little to the second image, it's just the blurring of the BG that took me some time. Once again, Steve Kaluski's words come to mind : " less is more".

    Kind regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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