Lion Portrait

[Loi Nguyen]

Image taken at Duba Plains just before sunset. I clipped the legs of the lion, so decided to go for a head shot instead. Gorgeous red rays from the setting sun.

There was a strong magnenta cast, which I tried to remove via Hue/Sat and Selective Color. Going more would make the affected areas Green. Does anyone understand why there is often a color cast? I would appreciate if you could explain or point me to some reading materials.

1Dx
500f4 II
1/400
f5.6
ISO-3200
HH
cropped to ~ 40% of original.

yes, a 200-400 would have been good, but lugging two big lenses is not going to be an option for me.

Thank you for your comments.

Loi

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Loi , nice portrait in very nice late light . Great details and colors . A bit flat in tone , i feel , a personal taste .
I have no idea where the casts are coming from, technically. Are you referring to casts generally or just the magenta one in your image?

Just an RP for illustration what i think looks better in tones plus i removed the blues in the gums and parts of the fur.

TFS Andreas

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Loi , the best info on color and the correction of it is in my humble opinion the latest book of Dan Margulis , the godfather of LAB color.
I think the title is " Modern Photoshop Color Workflow" , it comes with 10 hours of video tutorials. I just have the older version and in German language , so not very helpful for english speaking people .

Cheers Andreas

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Loi , the best info on color and the correction of it is in my humble opinion the latest book of Dan Margulis , the godfather of LAB color.
I think the title is " Modern Photoshop Color Workflow" , it comes with 10 hours of video tutorials. I just have the older version and in German language , so not very helpful for english speaking people .

Cheers Andreas

Hi Andreas, I will look into it. Being an engineer, my curiosity is why sometimes the sensor acts properly and gets the colors right and sometimes not. Obviously it has to do with the responsivity of the CMOS sensors with different wavelengths, the noise of the digital readout (more color cast when the subject is underexposed for example), but I have not seen a scientific explanation for what is going on and how to minize it if possible. Thank you for the RP of the lion. I think yours is a bit more contrast and the removal of the blue is great. I missed that. Saw only the magneta cast on the mane. Loi

[Morkel Erasmus]

A lovely male, Loi. Andreas' repost has addressed my initial concerns with the OP.
I would normally want the head "level", but I quite like the cocked head angle here.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Loi,

Myself and Andre often have similar concerns regarding the way in which our cameras read information when the lighting conditions are not ideal, and we are well aware that the eye compensates and adjusts for various (and unusual) types of light. I do not like using flash because I find it quite cumbersome (Andre does sometimes with a degree of success), it is quite useful in the sense that it often counters various casts. I once read something about colour temperature, it got a bit complicated for me but you might find this an interesting read, an engineer's mind will understand this easier, I also remember the terms "colour temperature meter" and "colorimetry", quite sophisticated stuff but even if one does not put in practice all that information it is still an interesting read and could help one correct colour casts by understanding how colours work. If I am not mistaken, I found some of this info recently by doing a search on the net, check under "norris+colorimetry+expanding dynamic range". Still busy with "Modern Photoshop Colour Workflow" and some other books we bought recently...
I am doing all sorts of experiments lately, like, instead of desaturating a certain colour/cast I bring in another to compensate. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't, always worth a try I like the RP from Andreas who seems to have an eye for colours and colour casts, as well as a good idea of how to deal with those Lovely image Loi, set aside all this technical stuff, I am usually more concerned with "telling the story" and capturing something special - which you certainly did, well done!

Kind regards,

[Nancy Bell]

I really like this "in-your-face" view and the wide open eyes looking right at you. I think the portrait "forced" by the 500 lens is perfectly a fine way to go. For me I consider the lens as part of the challenge of creating the image, as much as the subject & environment, etc.
Color casts are tricky things and something I do not always even see until it is pointed out.

[Rudi van den Heever]

Great light Loi! Agree with Morkel that the tilted head gives something different to the image - maybe an interest in the photographer?

[Loi Nguyen]

Thank you everyone. Your comments are much appreciated. There is much to learn about color cast on my part. Loi

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Loi

I have tried all channels with different blending modes in curves and channels- no go. I can not fix it with my limited knowledge.

Any mask/no mask works.

Sorry mate….