It amazes me that in the absence of cats - on a day like today when I am at home, sitting in the front of the computer - the desire to be near them is so overpowering. Together with Andre and Carl I spent a number of hours near a leopard and then some lions only days ago, yet this morning I had to convince myself to stay at home and do those things one has to do sometime, domestic things like tidying up and generally sorting out the house. Having completed the tasks of the day, I am now ready to share with you my feline fascination and another image of this lovely Caracal I get to see from time to time.
Kindly give me your thoughts on this, which I hope qualifies for a Hi Key image - perhaps you will find a little more contrast than desired but I felt my character's features called for it. Also, the background could be brighter, but for some reason I liked it as is. I have more images of this cat, at times I got a bit more adventurous when processing - I will share some of those with you after consulting with the moderators, some might be too "out-of-the-box" for the Wildlife forum.
Exif:
Nikon D4
Nikon 300mm F2.8
F9
ISO 1250
1/1600s
Hi Gabriela - Another beautiful image of this caracal. It certainly fits the theme though I would like to see a version with a little less contrast too (though I do like this version). It's easy to say in hindsight but I might have tried f11 or f13 to see if I could get the rear ear and tuft in focus too. I would also love to see the color version of this.
Hi Gabriela welcome back to life , nice to see you posting again.
Another fine frame of this beauty cat . A nice conversion in the OP but i think it is a bit heavy contrast for a high key frame ??!! So i would agree with Rachel by going less contrasty in the tones.
I really like this the way you processed the OP , the RP is different but too graphic fro my taste at this time , if posted separately i guess it would work , too .
I really like the tones and the detail .
I have to speed up it is getting late , see you soon . TFS Andreas
Thank you Andreas, I anticipated some crits regarding contrast but could not help it, this is how I see Lumi...Looking forward to see if other members comment and how they feel about it. I am in two minds about this, therefore I shall decide on the RP based on everyone's comments and suggestions. Thank you so much for taking the time to view, is your holiday over now and are you going back to work? Hope you have a good rest, enjoy your day tomorrow, if it is stressful at times just think of our Kalahari days, this always works for me:)
Hi Gabriela, seems you have embraced this theme with gusto and you like the challenge, but also the experimenting.
I like the DoF with the ears tailing off, likewise the chest in detail & clarity, adds to the composition. I also like the HA and position in frame. As 'high key' I might suggest looking at having zero tone in the BKG, so a combination of the OP & the RP? If so, would there be tone in the whites of the fur do you think? However, it might all start to look too contrasty, just a thought. I might also just back off on the sharpening.
Lovely side-on portrait of this lovely Caracal, Gabriela.
I prefer the OP, but might go a tad lighter in the highlights on it (though not as stark as in your RP).
I hope you get out and spend some more time with wild kitties soon!
Gabriela there is no point for me you can see Lumi as you like , if you see her that way it is fine for me , you are the artist . My thought was just going a bit lower in contrast in the 3/4 tones and the real darks would fit better to a HK image .
Thank you so much for your views and comments, I get the idea and will do an RP as per your suggestions. Easy to say though, as soon as I touch any image of my beloved Lumi, my hands sketch a different image than what I had planned in the first place, quickly come the contrast and the tones or the sketchy look, LOL
Oh I just love those cats too much, I guess...
RP coming soon, I am playing with a lion image for now... again the same thing is happening, started with a plan but things kind of got out of hand