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Thread: High Key Leopard

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Default High Key Leopard

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    Following on the discussions of the definition of high key, particularly in the recent leopard image threads by Tobie and Sanjeev, I thought I would look through the images from my most recent Africa trip to see if I had a high key leopard shot. I think this one is the closest to what I consider the traditional definition of a brighter image with the majority of tones above mid-grey, little shadows and low contrast. We found our favorite subject, the Vomba Young Male, pretty much as we left camp on the morning drive on our last day. This one was shot before actual sunrise in the early dawn light as he surveyed his surrounds from the base of a termite mound. Steve may have other examples from this sighting.

    Canon 5D3
    70-200 II @ 200mm
    1/125
    f4.0
    ISO 3200
    Beanbag from safari vehicle, levels, curves and sharpened in CCPS.

    C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,
    Rachel

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Rachel a very fine and true /classic HK image . Nice work .
    I really like the soft tones and colors with very fine detail you brought out .
    I am not 100% with the crop , the leopard looking out of the frame to the LHS and he is also on the LHS so you ending with a lot of dead space on RHS ?! . But your call . I would also loose some of the top , but that is as always a personal thing .

    TFS Andreas

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Thanks Andreas. Yes, several alternate crop ideas come to mind. This is ff and I did not think about crop rather processed and posted it for demonstration and discussion purposes.

    Thanks again,
    Rachel

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Hello Rachel,

    I am very taken with the Hi Key Theme and watching with much interest how everyone is tackling this. I think I got the idea in general, although the "low contrast" bit is a major issue with me because I like my subjects to "pop" a lot...now I have to learn to practice some constraint during processing

    Regarding your leopard, I must say you had a great sighting and I really like the POV with the subject looking down, eyes almost into the camera. Image carefully processed as you managed to retain the natural colours as well as sufficient detail - I look forward to I try a colour Hi Key of my own, will try to keep in mind those guidelines you gave us above regarding toning, shadows and contrast.

    Thank you Rachel, I enjoyed viewing and taking those hints along with me when I process my next image.

    Hope you have a wonderful week-end, warmest regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Gabriela - I'm glad you like the high key theme and are enjoying experimenting. If I was processing this for myself, rather than for the discussion/demonstration purposes, I probably would have given it a bit more punch too and cropped it. Keep experimenting with high key including in the field. For me, a high key image starts with the exposure in the field. The processing is very limited.

    Thanks,
    Rachel

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Rachel, I too think the HK theme has provided a good source of both interesting images and different thoughts in presenting them. I agree, rightly or wrongly that providing the image has some traits of HK then lets keep it flexible. For me the situation has always dictated the scene rather than taking an image and trying to create the scene in PP.

    This particular image with the almost bleached out sky does I feel move towards HK, I just wonder however if like the PB image the 'strength' of colour is less and the 'whites' are higher????? I like having the weight of the termite mound on the LHS as it 'anchors' things for me, but agree a sliver off the top & RHS could also work too.

    TFS
    Steve

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    I agree with Rachel, some images just don't lend themselves to Hi Key, and I soon realised I could not "force" the Hi Key effect on some of mine - well, most of them. Still busy looking through my folders and every now and then finding something I think could work with - I am really enjoying this. Wonder who came up with the brilliant idea of this Theme?

    Back to your image, I did not comment on the crop/framing because I realised that every bit of it had some elements (earth, leaves, sky) you needed in order to demonstrate the Hi Key effect. As I sat down this morning and looked once again at this beautiful leopard my thoughts were "he is just too beautiful and colourful a creature for us to take that away from him". Glad you did not go tighter, the image needs that sky and the environment as presented, the leopard on its own would have demanded more emphasis on colour/toning/sharpness.

    Have a wonderful day, looking forward to another Hi Key from you
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Rachel, I really like the setting here. Very nice PP with good details, very nice habitat and i love the eye contact. TFS.

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    Morning Rachel

    My first thoughts when looking at this image was that it needed to be converted into monochrome but the more I look at it the more I like the soft gradual tones of colours. Great image.

    I do think it needs to be cropped from the top right down towards the leopard just getting rid of some of the dead space on the right.

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Hey Rachel - I too like the pastel colours and high key look here, works well given the subject matter and time of day.
    In an ideal world the OOF green bush left bottom would have been gone eh? That's the Lowveld for you
    I like Timothy's crop suggestion...
    Morkel Erasmus

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