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Thread: Death under a brooding sky.

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    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    Default Death under a brooding sky.

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    5.50pm.
    The Mwagusi lion pride had killed this giraffe and baby (close by) earlier in the morning and were now feasting under a threatening sky and magic late afternoon light.
    The wet season was stil yet some weeks away.

    RuahaNP- Tanzania Oct 2013. Almost F/F, cropped vehicle bullbar on RHS. CS5

    C & C most welcome

    Cheers
    Marc


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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Marc,
    quite neat shot of a dramatic death shot, like the lightning , the colors in the lower part and the composition .Good detail and sharpness where the action is going on.The inclusion of the landscape gives a nice depth to the image.
    But there are some issues i see , at least for me,there is blue /cyan creeping through in the shadows in the FG, Not sure about the blue in the clouds and the mountains , i personally would go for grayish clouds and less blue mountains, just personal preferences.
    There is noise visible in those clouds, so NR is appropriate .There is some funny blurring going on , on the LHS and RHS of the Baobab, some smaller branches are affected too?
    I would tone down the sky to give it real drama.

    TFS Andreas

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    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    Thanks Andreas

    Quote Originally Posted by Andreas Liedmann View Post
    Not sure about the blue in the clouds and the mountains , i personally would go for grayish clouds and less blue mountains, just personal preferences.
    There is noise visible in those clouds, so NR is appropriate .There is some funny blurring going on , on the LHS and RHS of the Baobab, some smaller branches are affected too?
    I used a small amount of Nik detail on the sky and BG, (and wanted the dk blue in the clouds) and is probably the cause of some selective layering on Boabab here, I did use NR on the sky and yes probably needed a little more but tried to keep a balance between that and the detail I wanted.


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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Marc - Andreas has made excellent suggestions. I really like the scene with the lions, kill, baobab tree and rocks. It almost feels like it could be a prehistoric scene. I do think that the sky is too saturated and would dial back the blues and cyans in a hue/saturation adjustment. There are also some dust spots in the sky, the largest one above the baobab tree, another just to the left of it and a few more between the two trees.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Landscapes Moderator Andrew McLachlan's Avatar
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    Hi Marc, great suggestions given already for this photo. The low light is beautiful and with a few tweaks you will be able to make it even better. I too think the blue in the clouds and distant hills is too much...you could also try Selective Color and reduce the blacks on both the Blue and Cyan channels for a more natural looking sky.

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    Hi Marc,

    like the older picture:
    I really like the setting and the scenery - but i'm not sure if it's your postprocessing style or something went wrong. Again (as already written) the blue tends to be to much cyan-like. This time it's more the sky than the hills.
    Framing it more to the right if possible could move the lions a bit out of the center and probably increase the attention on the shot.

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Marc,
    i would try to get the desired detail with curves /blend modes in PS using a lot of masks, a bit more complicated than just wanging sliders in NIK , but the results look more natural , i think.
    I am myself still fiddling around with that stuff ,NIK is faster and easier.
    In the end it is up to the artist , what to use , and if you are fine with it, OK.
    Ps : forgot in my first post , to say how much i like the landscape.

    Cheers Andreas

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    Forum Participant edwardselfe's Avatar
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    Very cool image - what luck you had in Ruaha. I think the only improvement would be to revisit the blues in the sky and mountains as suggested. The composition of the lions and the giraffe are excellent. I guess you don't have any where one or other of the cats had its head up...
    Ed

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    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    Thanks Markus

    Quote Originally Posted by Markus Hanika View Post
    Framing it more to the right if possible could move the lions a bit out of the center and probably increase the attention on the shot.
    As mentioned I had to crop out a vehicle bull-bar on the right so no room on that side.


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    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    Thanks Ed

    Quote Originally Posted by edwardselfe View Post
    Very cool image - what luck you had in Ruaha. I think the only improvement would be to revisit the blues in the sky and mountains as suggested. The composition of the lions and the giraffe are excellent. I guess you don't have any where one or other of the cats had its head up...
    Ed
    I do Ed,
    so I may submit another later with the sky BG tweaked to less cyan/blue and more to a grey tone.


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    Marc I really like this shot, as much for the baobab trees in the BG as for the main subject. It has the feel of a painting.

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    This series is seriously enticing me - love love love those baobab backdrops! I always knew about the baobabs but had the impression that foliage on the ground was much denser than it looks in your photos.
    Light is great. Some good points above but to be honest I didn't see any noise in the sky
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Marc, taking onboard the above I would also just give a 0.80 CW rotation. Personally I would use LR to adjust the sky as I think you can control things better, but have no idea how Nx works so it too could have similar features.

    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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    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    Hi Marc, taking onboard the above I would also just give a 0.80 CW rotation. Personally I would use LR to adjust the sky as I think you can control things better,

    TFS
    Steve
    You'll have to take my word here Steve, this is level , it may look like it does need some CW, however, this area was at the base of a ridge, introducing your 0.80 CW rotation, puts the baobabs on a slight kilter, indicating that no rotation is needed IMO.
    I never use LR, but yes NIK & PS can acccomplish the cyan/blue issues no problem.


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    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    Sorry, double post.


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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Hi Marc, I do like the overall setting, and of course, the kill in the FG is what the image is all about. You are lucky to have fairly open surroundings. Did you manage a shot with both lions looking up?

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