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Thread: I'm coming down!

  1. #1
    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    Default I'm coming down!

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    07.13
    I love the down the lens look this leopardess is giving me as she descends in very nice light.
    A slight dilemma with framing here, as this wasn't FF it left me with some latitude, so even though this girl is fairly central (and still wanting to keep her tail in frame) I still wanted to give her room for her descent.

    Ruaha NP- Tanzania OCT 2013


    D700 80-400AF-S f/6.3 1/5000s ISO1600@ 80mm. 30% crop.

    C & C most welcome

    Cheers
    Marc


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    Marc, this is a lovely image. Great pose and am glad you got the tail in. I don't mind the central placement. Nice light to capture this beauty.

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    Forum Participant edwardselfe's Avatar
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    Stunning, interesting and beautiful. I would leave it exactly as it is, but for a bit less sharpening on the leopard and perhaps a little taming of whites on the cat.... Althougg actually that might be crunchiness from the slight over-sharpening so perhaps lower sharpening and then see how the whites look on her head. This is an unusual leopard shot and I love it.
    Ed

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    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    Thanks Sanjeev & Ed
    Quote Originally Posted by edwardselfe View Post
    Stunning, interesting and beautiful. I would leave it exactly as it is, but for a bit less sharpening on the leopard and perhaps a little taming of whites on the cat.... Althougg actually that might be crunchiness from the slight over-sharpening so perhaps lower sharpening and then see how the whites look on her head. This is an unusual leopard shot and I love it.
    Ed
    You maybe right on the USM, backing off a tad at least for web is the problem.


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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Lovely light and POV here Marc - and moment obviously special.
    My immediate thought was to tone down brightest "lights" and to back down on sharpening
    Morkel Erasmus

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    BPN Member Anette Mossbacher's Avatar
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    Hoi Marc,

    great look this leopard gives you. You got already good suggestions above. Very nice image.

    Have a great eve, the snow is coming soon. It is getting cold

    Ciao
    Anette

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Marc - great pose and comp works for me. Good suggestions above. Additionally, I would selectively drop the reds and yellows on the tree to give the leopard a bit more separation.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Awesome intense look and great outstretched legs with the claws clearly gripping! I think Rachel has a very good suggestion about selectively dropping the reds & yellows on the tree.

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    Great composition here Marc, think you've done well with the crop.

    I am more concerned with the pp and my first reaction was that you'd over processed the leopard and the tree bark. I do think the image is too bright overall but especially on the leopard and the bark. And I always find your images a little over sharpened, but then I'm told that mine are often not sharpened enough so perhaps it is in the eye of the beholder.

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    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hilary Hann View Post
    Great composition here Marc, think you've done well with the crop.

    I am more concerned with the pp and my first reaction was that you'd over processed the leopard and the tree bark. I do think the image is too bright overall but especially on the leopard and the bark. And I always find your images a little over sharpened, but then I'm told that mine are often not sharpened enough so perhaps it is in the eye of the beholder.
    Guilty as charged Hilary, this has been a long running problem and only rears it's head when downsizing to web, as my TIFF is fine with no hint of over sharpening, I must agree upon looking at this image again my reds & yellows do need to be reduced, I had used Nik detail enhancer on the tree only and perhaps this is to blame?


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    Lovely capture Marc, you must have enjoyed a wonderful safari in Ruaha.
    I think composition is great as you kept the whole leopard and really managed to convey the downward movement.
    My only niggle is that the colours are a bit garish. They seem a little bit un-natural, over-processed. Easily remedied.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    as my TIFF is fine with no hint of over sharpening
    Marc, don't you work from a Master PSD file, then flatten, crop, sharpen once you know the actual final size? You should only sharpen or apply final sharpening at the actual output size, perhaps having a tiff at full size sharpened, then sharpening on top is where the 'over sharpening' is coming in from?
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Stunning capture and the leopard's eyes are looking right at you-how wonderful, you must have been ecstatic when you took this shot! I guess most of the technical details have been dealt with above, I do agree with Rachel regarding colours of the tree.
    Congratulations Marc!

    Kind regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    You should only sharpen or apply final sharpening at the actual output size, perhaps having a tiff at full size sharpened, then sharpening on top is where the 'over sharpening' is coming in from?
    That's just it Steve, I NEVER sharpen on top, it's ONCE only and always at the end of PP.
    I think the problem is in the downsizing to web, now is CS6 just using straight Bicubic @400kb- 1200 x 800.
    Last edited by Marc Mol; 11-20-2013 at 02:52 PM.


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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Marc,
    great crawling down pose of the leopard in combo with your low POV and the use of the short tele lens makes this image a good one.

    I just think it is a bit light overall , and specially in the highlights, looking in PS showing the final image has not much detail in the HL in two channels……..
    Plus i think , so like Rachel, reducing the reds and yellows in parts.

    TFS Andreas

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    That's just it Steve, I don't sharpen on top, it's ONCE only and always at the end of PP.

    Marc, when you say, 'at the end of PP' do you mean, only at the cropped size? I crop direct from say an 800MB to 1.8GB image Master file with 'from my perspective' no real issues.

    Why not crop and send me the image as per the OP, I will send you a file back for comparison if it helps?
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

  17. #17
    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    Marc, don't you work from a Master PSD file,
    Should also mention that I NEVER use PSD as my choice of Master file save, from my understanding, it only works on Adobe programmes and is therefore non-universal.


    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    Marc, when you say, 'at the end of PP' do you mean, only at the cropped size?
    When I've finished PP with a once only USM & a crop I'm happy with (if required) it get's saved as a TIFF(c) file.

    The original uncropped file is saved just as a TIFF (no "c" prefix), there is NO right or wrong way about achieving this end result IMO, just the way that I'm comfortable with.
    Pointing out that I'll always have my NEF if/when needed.
    Everyone has their own particular way of workflow.

    Having said all that this image does need some colour correcting on the tree, due to NIK detail I feel.
    Last edited by Marc Mol; 11-21-2013 at 09:04 AM.


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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    You've obviously got it all under control Marc, I'll leave it with you.
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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    Lifetime Member Andre Pretorius's Avatar
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    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    Hi Marc

    Stunning moment, would love to have been there!

    The comp works well for me, but it is over saturated on reds and yellows.

    Brought saturation down on reds and yellows, added little bit of blacks in Neutrals.
    Burned a bit with soft light on trunk.

    WDYT?
    Regards

    Andre.

    www.gappimages.com

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