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Thread: Well, one eye contact..

  1. #1
    Lifetime Member Andre Pretorius's Avatar
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    Default Well, one eye contact..

    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    Image captured on our recent KTP trip, at Kij Kij.
    Same place where Andreas was posing with his grey card four months ago.
    Looked for his socks, all I could find was Hyena scat...

    Basic TK, Channel Blending, D&B layer.
    Removed some distracting stones in BG.
    FF with minimal crop for comp.
    Wasn't sure about sharpness, went back to sharpen more, WDYT?
    Changed from Standard to Neutral Profile in camera, is that the way to go?

    Nikon D3S with 500f4
    1/1250 @ F6.3
    ISO 2500 (7PM)
    EV +0,3
    Regards

    Andre.

    www.gappimages.com

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    Hi Andre. I like this image. Love the relaxed lion with the one eye open. Good comp too. TFS.

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    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    Love the dream like pose here Andre, and captures the nature of these big guys so well, nice soft lighting, techs and overall quality, including sharpness look good.

    Quote Originally Posted by Andre Pretorius View Post
    Changed from Standard to Neutral Profile in camera, is that the way to go?
    Most (if not all) of these in camera profile settings will only change the Jpeg and not the RAW file Andre, personally I leave most at their default setting.


  4. #4
    BPN Member dankearl's Avatar
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    Excellent close up although I might have preferred the eyes closed....
    Dan Kearl

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Andre ,welcome back to here.
    Hope you had a great time with lots of sightings .Have you seen Rosetta ?I still wearing those socks so you could not really find them there .

    A nice frame to post here for this theme , i like the comp and the dreamy look of this lion. Good colors and tonal range with lots of detail and sharpness looks good to me . Depending on ones prefs i might boost the mid tones a bit more without pushing the colors .

    Are you happy with the 500 now ? , i just got myself the 500 MK II and i must say i am blown away by the new lens , specially the weight and the capability in AF performance with the TCīs .Will send you an image tonight !!

    Regarding your profile , well you can use whatever you want while shooting , you can change that in raw conversion . Basically the raw file has no tone curve applied (linear curve) , what the camera records is a nasty dark looking file . All cam manufactures apply a tone curve to make the file look pleasing to ones eyes, all profiles are coming with settings created by the manufactures targeting brightness ,contrast , color, sharpness etc. So by choosing a specific preset (profile ) you choose how your raw capture is interpreted by your software !!! Some have the ability to make the actual raw file visible and you can create your own profile or preset . ACR /LR can`t do that , maybe Nikonīs raw converter can do it. But it is a lot of work to create that and i think it is easier to start with a profile made by the guys from i.e. Nikon .

    Hope this is good to understand for you , and i prefer to start with neutral profile most of the time , to have better control about the contrast .

    TFS and Cheers yours Mr B.E.

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    Hi Andre you have not used the whole tonal potential of the image , a gap on RHS of the histogram ........

    I just tweaked it a bit more , not saying it is better , just a bit more punch if wished ..... Cheers Andreas

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Andre - Welcome back! You've captured the lion as we so often see them during the day, laying down. I like the one eye open pose. Good detail and sharpness. It's a subtle difference in Andreas' rp. Btw I too usually start from the Neutral Profile. Looking forward to more images from your trip.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Forum Participant christopher galeski's Avatar
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    very nice,feel like I can stroke it,good sharpness and detail,like the pose.

  9. #9
    Lifetime Member Andre Pretorius's Avatar
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    Thank you all for the kind comments!
    We again had no electricity yesterday afternoon, and to really drive the nail home, no internet until this morning!
    Andreas, we did not see Rosetta(Safran) again this time, been up and down searching with binocs the empty riverbed in her territory.
    She was seen mating about 6 weeks ago, which could only mean her cub is dead....
    The new 500 does perform, MUCH lighter and easier to manoeuvre in the constricted space. No more bumping the lens hood against rearview mirror, steering wheel, my head etc
    Have not used with TC, personally I do not like it, only use it when really needed- lose too much time by fitting and removing it.
    Your RP really carries more weight, well done Mr BE!

    Thanks Rachel, will try and PP some more images, not as many as last time to choose from.

    Will stay on Neural Profile then..
    Regards

    Andre.

    www.gappimages.com

  10. #10
    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Yep, Neutral it is for me too, but one must then try and reproduce the natural colours of the subject as well as the environment... Going "Neutral" means taking away all the "pop", and that leaves you with lots of choices, I guess this is where common sense comes along and also a good memory of what things looked like in the first place...

    This male lion was adorable, we spent some time with him and he delighted us with a few poses, all in reasonably good light. I personally experimented with all possible F-stops and various other settings, ETTR and ETTL and whatever came to mind. A delightful sighting and I feel this image gives him justice, he was one of those relaxed big boys who barely gave us a glance and even the sound of me digging out the coffee basket did not bother him. The only thing that moved him was the odd fly landing on his muzzle, and we were grateful for that because we managed to shoot a frame of two of him covering his face with his oversizes paws or just looking annoyed:)

    Thank you for sharing this sighting Andre, brings back such pleasant memories for me and I am really missing the Kalahari now:)
    Gabriela Plesea

  11. #11
    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Andre, yep this typifies what lions like to do, be lazy and sleep. Nice detail, but would have preferred the to see the left eye (as viewed) fully visible and not slightly masked. Like the very 'neutral' environment, helps give standout to the subject.

    TFS
    Steve
    Last edited by Rachel Hollander; 02-27-2015 at 09:09 PM.

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Glad to see some images from your recent trip, Andre!
    I like the frame-filling composition here, coupled with the soft light and that one lazy eye open.
    Congrats on getting the 500, I have been very happy with mine for 4 years now!
    Morkel Erasmus

    WEBSITE


  13. #13
    Lifetime Member Andre Pretorius's Avatar
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    Thanks Steve anf Morkel for comments!
    Regards

    Andre.

    www.gappimages.com

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    Superb IQ and texture. You have the tones pretty much perfect in my opinion. Andreas's repost works too. Not easy to make a sleeping lion interesting but you have done it.

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