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Thread: A Perfectly Natural Umbrella

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Default A Perfectly Natural Umbrella

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    He appeared so serene and innocent under his "umbrella" at the time, yet only moments earlier this lion was roaring with a strength that made the earth tremble. He behaved as if the entire Kalahari belonged to him. The Kij Kij water hole does belongs to him I think, at least for now. It is difficult to explain my fascination with this animal and forgive me for inundating this forum with so many lion images, I just hope that portraying my subjects in various ways makes it a little less boring for you to view.

    It was a bit of a challenge, taking this image - I had to wait for the moment when there was just enough light on his face to capture his beautiful eyes. Taken at 07: 53 in the morning after the lion drank at the water hole accompanied by his female.

    Nikon D3S, Nikon 500mmF4, ISO 1000, 1/1600s at F9. During processing I removed two small branches in front of his mane and cropped from the bottom and RHS. Adjustments in LR and CS6 then sharpened for web.

    Kind regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Lifetime Member Mike Poole's Avatar
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    Cracking shot of this fine beast Gabriela. It's often hard to get the dappled light shots right, but here, the eyes are perfectly clear and make a vital difference to the finished product.

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    BPN Member Mark Needham's Avatar
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    Lovely image, Gabriela; those eyes of his really do pop and you timed it just right to avoid shadows across the eyes. Nicely done.
    Mark Needham

    My Website


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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriela , remember that scene very well and you created a very fine image with a very good content .
    Like the comp and the roof of twigs of the acacia tree .Image looks nicely processed in general with great detail and good looking sharpness .
    I personally would get rid of the gap in the histogram , makes the image more pop and you will get more brilliance !!!
    Tones and color could stand a bit more depth , but do not push things too far .
    Saying this from my perspective .

    TFS Andreas, hey what about other then lion , i.e. mice

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Dear Andreas,

    I think I understand your perspective, and having seen your lovely RP in your email (thank you) I do agree there's always more one can do to one's images.

    Forgive my ignorance, but not sure what you mean about the gap in the histogram when it comes to this particular image.

    I certainly can add more "pop" here if you like, but I feel that the image is close to what I have seen at the time. No golden light, almost 8 am and the light not so sweet anymore. I can warm it up but in the shade things tend to be rather cool. I could be mistaken though, I stand to be corrected.

    The other lion...you mean the lioness? She is there, lying in the sun. She is tough, resilient, stubborn. Like me

    Nite nite Andreas, I must go pack for the Kalahari...the lions are waiting...
    Gabriela Plesea

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Good morning Gabriela it is your image and your view , all good .No need for adding things that you do not like or you do not remember .
    At least i think you should use the whole possible tonal range an image can give you , in this case when you watch the histogram there is a gap from the first tones to the RHS of the histogram .I think you need to fill that gap to get full tonal potential , just by adding a levels layer set to blend mode of luminosity and hit the AUTO button (clipping set to 0) , if your blacks will choke up , just add a channel to the layer mask at 20 % opacity and you safe the blacks .

    Hope that helps , nice rainy sunday ? (like here)

    Cheers and greetings to K 1

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Morning Andreas!

    Thank you, I now understand what you mean, K1 here did a demo for me I am busy looking for another image of you, by the way...so you can expect a nice surprise very soon!

    Overcast here and cool, a perfect Sunday...Apparently lots of lion sightings in our Park here over the past few weeks but we decided to spend the week-end at home...

    Chat soon, enjoy the day Andreas, thank you again
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriela - I really like the image design with the "umbrella" at the top and the trunk along the right edge. I can imagine this powerful beast thinking that the tree is cover as he peers around it at potential prey at the waterhole, not realizing that it gives him little cover and everyone is well aware of his presence.

    You handled the dappled light extremely well and the detail is great. Sharpening looks good too. It would be interesting to see another version with Andreas' suggested tweak.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    I agree with all that it is a super image and well timed too. Am also keen to see this Andreas tweak to see what a difference it makes

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    Gabriela, this is a fine image. Awesome detail, love the setting and that gaze of the lion. Lovely colours and framing.

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Default RP1

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    Hello everyone,

    Here's an RP with Andreas's tweaks, reduced opacity of layers quite a bit since I felt the image was becoming a tad too bright. Did another Levels layer just for the muzzle, in the end.

    WDYT?
    Gabriela Plesea

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    hi Gabriela , worth a try ? I think so .
    Now you have the brilliance ......... it just needs some slight more tone /depth in the 1/4 and 1/2 tones without effecting the colors and without loosing the brightness , keep the tones separated .

    Good night for today , Andreas

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi gabriela, a nice sighting, cool framing. Fo me it's a combination of the two, using the majority of the RP.

    Just remember, if your graph/histogram falls short on the axis, i.e. it does not quite meet the ends fully, yes you may need to pull them in, but you need to find where they start to clip, it's not just pull the sliders too meet the histogram, especially the black otherwise you will be in trouble. Nice job on the cloning on both sticks.

    TFS
    Steve

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    Forum Participant BenBotha's Avatar
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    I like the OP more. The whites on the chin in the RP is washed out. I like the slightly more warmer colours of the OP. The brighter tree trunk also a bit distracting.

    Ben

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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Lovely shot - like them both, the composition is what holds my interest.

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  18. #16
    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Andreas -thank you very much - definitely worth a try and I will repeat this exercise, but more cautiously next time:)
    Steve, you're right - I noticed what happens to the blacks, this needs some fine tuning... Cloning the sticks was the easy part...

    Thank you all for taking the time to view and kind comments, much appreciated!
    Gabriela Plesea

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