It's been ages since my last post, apologies. I just returned from a great first time visit to Etosha and was truly overwhelmed.
On our second morning we came across a large pride of lion numbering 13 in total. This included 3 large lionesses, with the rest made up by 2 subadult males and "teenagers". They were spread out around the waterhole, up to 250m away. One of the lionesses made a kill within 10 min of us arriving (I only have a shot of a cloud of dust as proof - saw it to late and partially behind me). After devouring the springbok in minutes, the youngsters took over the show with chasing, mauls and bullying all over the plain surrounding the waterhole.
The geography meant that I was shooting partially into the still low sun. The light was great, but I had to EC and had some trouble with HL's on the water and dust behind the Rt cub. I like the light on the main subjects face and the rim glow behind the heads. The dust might "decrease" sharpness, but adds dramatic effect IMHO.
This is 1 of a few shots I managed and would like to share and learn from your C&C's!
Techs: Canon 1D-X | Canon EF200-400mm f4L IS USM w 1.4x engaged– 1/1600s @ F/5.6 & ISO: 1600 |EC: +1 EV| On beanbag from SUV | PostShutter:
DPP – Sharpen, Highlights, Contrast, Peripheral Illumination, Crop 20% from top & RHS for composition and to get rid of dead space
PS6 – LM – decreased highlights and added MT contrast with curves, Cleared debri/elephant droppings from the center background, SS
Nice action shot, Hennie! I agree with Andre - I'd remove as much as possible of the lower FG - perhaps up to where the reflection of the nearest cub starts. On the other hand if you remove all of the lower FG ridge there's still a nice piece of reflection left to be appealing to the eye and it creates the (nice) impression that it was photographed from inside the waterhole. Very nice otherwise!
Great interaction captured Hennie. I agree with the others suggestions in removing the fg totally. Pity about that bank as I am sure the total reflection would have made quite an impact on the final outcome.
Welcome back, to the forum and time to start working again! I agree about the fore ground, a pano crop could work. Love the light on the dust, TFS. Ben
Hi Hennie , great action in some nice light . Enough detail/sharpness for me , hence the dust.Agree in going pano here, plus i would reduce the cyans for an x amount .
Hi Hennie - Welcome back and nice to see you posting. Easily recognizable as Etosha. Great interaction, well captured. I agree with the suggestion of going pano but would crop off the entire reflection. My first thought was that the reflection was more of a distraction than a benefit. I hope you'll post more from your trip.
Love the light and action Hennie! Sounds like you had a great trip!
I think it would have been nice if you had more reflection and if you didn't have the ridge/mound in front. I think cropping both out (if the file quality can handle it) would focus the attention a lot better on the lovely dust/light/action of the lions. Looking forward to more as you process them
Great action captured here, looks like an amazing trip and I guess this is a promise of more images to come? I too would go pano allowing some of the reflection, would help emphasise the action...
I love that dust flying, this leaves me hungry for more...hope there's more?
Thank you to all for having a look and commenting. I appreciate and learn from it; at least try to!
The consensus is to drop the FG and from Andreas to adjust the cyans - I prepared a repost with changes as suggested and cropped from the LHS as well to eliminate too much dead space.
WDYT?
Cub Attack
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I too would go pano allowing some of the reflection, would help emphasise the action...
