Hyena Portrait

[Rachel Hollander]

This was the adult left to babysit the hyena cubs at the den in the Timbavati Game Reserve. Taken in the afternoon light when the youngsters had not yet emerged.

Canon 7D
300 II
1/1600
f5.6
ISO 800
Beanbag from safari vehicle, cropped about 20% for comp, luminosity mask, levels, curves, selective color adjustments, sharpened in CCPS.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Rachel, it's a very well exposed image despite the afternoon light. I like the HA, the eye contact & details. TFS. I got a few nice images of hyenas at the den in Timbavati. Will share soon.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Sanjeev - thanks for the comment. I think you misunderstood me. The light was good, just at the start of the golden hour light in the afternoon, a little more than an hour before sunset. Looking forward to seeing your images from the hyena den.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel this just works nice with the HA and the nice control of HL and SH .Like the tonal/color palette a lot.
You might think about toning down the stuff in LRC .
Sharpening does look a bit overdone in parts and do i see some noise in BKG ?

TFS Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, the light was good, but this initial sighting & timing worked well as the platform for further visits.

I might suggest you also look at perhaps a 5x4 format or similar, as I feel there is a little too much space either side, but just my take. Agree on applying some NR, albeit a small amount. That green shrub was a pain, nothing we could do and changing position would have compromised further images and the chance of the pup coming out. Just love those hazel eyes.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Andreas and Steve. I'm not seeing any noise on the frame prior to compression so I'm wondering if it is due to the large compression. Had to save this at about 60 to get the size right for BPN.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Rachel as far as i understand while downsampling the image becomes slightly smoother , so there should be no acceleration of noise ? If there is no noise there should be not more , but maybe i am wrong .

Cheers Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Rachel!

Don't know about the noise but my heart skipped a beat when I saw the look on this hyena's face...brought some memories of an encounter I had with a hyena one late night in the Kalahari...she had this inquisitive wise look about her - a sly look, if I may call it that.
Love the coarse fur and detail, colours are just right, crop is ideal and I like the presentation, thank you so much for sharing this Rachel, enjoyed viewing

Warmest regards,