Mrs. Ash

[Gabriela Plesea]

Found this image of Mrs. Charlie-Ash of Rooiputs fame while trying to make some space on my numerous hard drives for some recent folders. I realise I must take some time off to sort out my back-ups again, I have way too many images of lion and some could/should be deleted, I kept them for sentimental reasons but now I must find the strength to let go of some. Tried to rescue some special moments but feel I have wasted the whole evening, here's one I would like to share. Taken in October 2012, my best trip ever into the Kalahari and one so packed with sightings, I returned with about 10.000 frames, all taken over ten days - err...anyone wants to buy my D3S?


Nikon D3S
Nikon 500mm F4
1/1000s
ISO 640
F6.3

Critique and comments of any nature much appreciated

Kind regards,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gabriela i do have so many dead images on my various drives for the same reason as you , as long as i have space i will let them live……… Never took that many images in such a short time . No thanks i stick to Canon can shoot easily up to 25.000 Iso without any visible noise, sorry Gabriela.

Regarding the image , i like it for all what it stands for.Love colors and the tones . Only thing i would watch for are the choked looking blacks in the nostril /ear and parts of the mouth.

Very nice portrait. .

Ps : did you get the new TK action update, pretty good new masking options available .

TFS Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Andreas,

In most cases it is the operator behind the equipment who is at fault, and not the camera! My Nikon D3S can perform as well as your Canon, I am certain, blame me for the errors!!!

Just to clarify things, when I asked "who wants to buy my D3S?" I was refering to the amount of actuations I have on my Nikon body - way too many I think, even though it's not that old. I tend to have double the amount of frames Andre has on a trip, call me "trigger happy" or "experimental junkie"...

I did very little PP work on this, I agree some detail could be extracted from the ear and nostril and mouth but time was limited tonight (sorry!). It is a tad crunchy, also, this was shot in semi-shade and I had to do some work on the face, just liked the expression there and thought I'd share this. Thank you so much for viewing and for your comments, always appreciated and always learning from you. No TK action update, very interested to learn, let me know please. Might be off BPN for a few days though, new study being built and not sure how long this is going to take, perhaps the whole week-end.

PS You'd be surprised at the number of sightings and images to be downloaded at night in the Kalahari...very special place this is... One good reason to take along some cooked meals, you'll see, no time for BBQ's and stuff...hopefully!

Chat very soon, love your latest seal image

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Gabriela - I too shoot a ton of images. It's so easy to do with digital and now that portable hard drives keep coming down in price there's no storage issue. Beautiful tones, love the amber eyes. Nice detail but I agree with Andreas that you can bring out a bit more in the blacks.

TFS,
Rachel

[edwardselfe]

Nice angle and lovely colours. I don't mind about the blacks as there's not much missing from that view of the nostrils. Love the bg that the lionesses body gives.
Ed

[Neil Burton]

Workes for me, overall tones and brightness work together and sharpness looks perfect.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, my first thought when I saw the image, go square. I think it emphasis the subject more and looses all that OOF body which IMHO does not add anything. I agree with Andreas, the nostril certainly looks choked, the ear is borderline, but you could try to see if you can open it up a fraction, but watch for any noise. I like the overall colour & tones with nice clarity. Might tame the whites, love the eyes! Complimentary BKG works well with the subject. Just watch that left ear on the RHS (as viewed), looks like some masking has crept in, doesn't look to have much detail which I thought might be there as it's on the same plain, but probably wrong.

TFS
Steve

[Thinus Schoeman]

Hi Gabriella, everything has been said about the detail in the blacks, but still a very nice image of beautiful female. I just love a lions eyes, and the eyes of the lioness in this image is perfectly clear and sharp with a beautiful natural colour. I particularly like the composition. Congratulations!

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Friends,

Thank you so much for all your thoughts on Mrs. Ash, I really appreciate your time and input.

Steve, my first crop was a square one but changed my mind because I wanted to try something different. This is a fairly large crop, I had the whole lioness in the picture, save for her front paws (she came a bit too close). I did no masking here (I should have), did the adjustments overall and thought I could get away with it. I will tame the whites further and try get detail where needed then repost, we are busy with some DIY home improvements this week-end so hopefully on Sunday I will upload an RP! Thank you for your advice, let us see if the RP meets your approval!

Have a lovely week-end,

[Morkel Erasmus]

Love the light in her eyes, and the DOF with the lioness body leading out to the RHS, Gabriela.
Agree you can tug some more out of this...makes me miss the Kgalagadi! 7 more months for me...

[Gabriela Plesea]

...and 5 months for us, dearest Morkel, wish we could all meet again in the promised land but next time perhaps we could spend some time chatting near the fire too...no PP talk, just sightings
Thank you so much, will tug more, don't know why I am rushing like this these days, trying to bite more than I can chew, so little time, so much to do...Perhaps I should post less and take my time, been thinking about it...I just like it here on BPN

Lekker slaap, have a great day tomorrow!