Leopard - Sanity Check
Hello all - have been absolute swamped the last 4 months, so please forgive the long absence :)
This image is about to head off to the printers, and would appreciate any last minute crits before I hit the send button. Thanks :)
Camera: 5D
Lens: 500mm
1/500 @ F4
Kwamdo Lagoon
PS It would appear that despite paying my membership (taken twice in Jan I would add, I have been reduced to a participant.....)
Hello welcome back you Participant , been reduced to that too in the past.
Russell really like your back entry in all terms .Normally from a really technical POV i would suggest opening up the shadows on the leopard to get more detail.But i think this works really well with all the high contrast and really nice colors. Good job in processing , at least for me.
Have you used a fog filter or is it natural…….. ? If it is not natural i would back off at least slightly .
Hoping for more time and images .
TFS Andreas
Hi Russell can you PM the dates of payment and I will see what has happened.
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Welcome back Russell,
Love the scene you have captured here and from the printing point of view I think this will work very well, especially on canvas.
Like Andreas, I too am tempted to ask you to try opening the shadows a bit, at the same time I do like the way the subject "pops" from that shadowy area, with the sun lighting up its beautiful face. The whites on the face are perhaps a tad too bright for my taste, again when printing this might not be an issue but if this were mine I would try to at least darken that small area where the whiskers are, to make them stand out without the white patch behind them. Your image - in my opinion - is absolutely stunning, it does have some very dark darks and some very bright whites and in normal circumstances I would say it is a bit too contrasty overall; my humble advice is, if this is special to you (and I am sure it is) have it printed yourself and decide before sending it away, just to see what it looks like and if need be make some final adjustments.
Russell, I often abstain from passing a critique because I am still learning and not always sure whether I have a valid "complaint" about an image. I really really like this and I expressed my views and suggestions above with the best intentions; yet I might be totally wrong and I do look forward to hear what the moderators say. I wish you many more sightings and opportunities like this, leopards are special and I treasure each and every image, well done on this capture and I really look forward to more from you, hope your membership is sorted out soon
Warmest regards,
Gabriela Plesea
...forgot to say, love the title, so appropriate, I always do a sanity check when I have a leopard sighting...
Gabriela Plesea
Hi Russell - good to see you back posting. Hopefully, Steve will get your membership sorted or you can PM Peter Kes directly. This is the type of image that I might process and print 2 different versions, one as is and one with the shadows opened a bit more and see which I prefer. I really like the color palette here. I'm also of 2 minds about coming down a bit from the top to eliminate the dark areas along the top edge but I don't want to cut the center stalk. I hope you'll have time to be active again.
TFS,
Rachel
This is beautiful. I love it. I love the details and the fog and the balance that the tree in the TL gives the leopard in the BR. I agree with Gabriela that the whites on the face of the leopard are a little too bright for me, and I might paint some negative clarity on the leopard's face to reduce the slight crunchiness there.
I would also love to see a B&W version with lots of dodging and burning to accentuate the dramatic tones.
Get printing I say!
Ed
Print, print, print... :)
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