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Thread: Hyena pup

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Default Hyena pup

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    This young pup had emerged from the den, waiting eagerly for the clan to arrive back, bring food.

    Shooting this again I would have easily cranked up the ISO for a greater SS, although shooting at lowish SS can be done, it's just not ideal, a higher SS would have been far more preferable, especially with the 1DX MKII.

    Thanks to those who viewed or posted a comment on the previous thread.

    Steve

    Subject: Hyena pup (Crocuta crocuta) waiting outside the den
    Location: SA
    Camera: Canon 1DX
    Lens: 200-400 f/4 MKII HH
    Exposure: 1/320s at f/9 ISO800 EV +0.67
    Original format: Portrait slight crop
    Processed via: LRCC & PSCC2017

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    very nice capture. did you use a flash or spotlight? I find the light a little harsh, especially the shadow, apart from that very nice, i would have expected f9 to give you more dof, although the shallow look works well

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    Hi Steve,I like the way you have caught this with a lighter and darker side of the face with that sideways look.IQ looks spot on to me,love those great big pads on this little one.

    Keith.

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    Full of character, that one.
    The paws and the 'waiting for something to happen' look remind me of one of our dogs .

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Thanks guys.

    No flash Bryan, just some 'snooted' light which I wanted to emphasis, as the light was nice & soft as it was towards the end of the day, as Rachel knows. Nose to ear is pin sharp, as the focus was bang on the eye, so enough DoF for the slight head angle/turn and that's all I wanted, as the rest could just drift off into the light/darkness.

    At the time he/she was looking dead on, but something caught the attention hence the look right. If I had realised I would have quickly turned format, but sometimes you take what you can get.

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Steve great use of natural spotlight
    Lovely image of this cutie , agree going vertical would have been better , but we all have been there .
    Lovely soft colors and tones , not talking about the gorgeous fine detail ..... well as expected .
    If this was mine i would drop the 3/4 tones a fraction to make the spotlight effect more prominent .... but i know your new way

    Nice work , Steve .

    TFS Andreas

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    Hi Steve -- Fantastic details and sharpness even at that ss , great going Steve ! But the light hitting on its face is priceless . On the framing side I would have preferred a bit more space on in the direction it is looking , personal taste i guess , but all in all a lovely image .

    TFS !

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Steve hope you do not mind ....

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    If this was mine i would drop the 3/4 tones a fraction to make the spotlight effect more prominent .... but i know your new way
    Andreas, you know how long I have been talking about Contrast (yawn, yawn), so, no new ways for me, but somehow PSCC 2017 just seems to be, just that little bit better and more responsive dovetailing with LR???

    BTW, a little side note - if you want to defuse any speculars then go for say f/14

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    No problem Andreas, what was the Curve point figures?

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    On the framing side I would have preferred a bit more space on in the direction it is looking , personal taste i guess , but all in all a lovely image .
    Thanks Haseeb, but as I mentioned above, I was originally shooting portrait prior to the head turn, but agree if I had time to re compose I would have gone landscape.

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Steve - I remember this guy. Yes, a little tight but not a deal breaker. Nice detail as always. Interesting I was there and my first thought was I don't remember us using a spot on the hyena. I wonder if its because of the tight comp without much habitat context that it gives that feeling. If you shot wider I imagine the light would show as a bit more dappled and natural. I haven't tried it but I wonder if a slightly warmer WB would also alleviate the feeling.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Steve
    i used two layers , one curve layer with the midpoint dropped to 60 masked through a created 3/4 tone mask . Added a second curves layer with the linear contrast preset , clipped to the first layer .
    Grouped the two layers and lowered the opacity to I think ....66 %
    Hope this helps
    Btw I have set my curves to % .... before you ask why dropped to 60 ��
    Cheers Andreas
    You are right regarding .... your new way ... sorry Steve , is no longer new. It is your standard .
    I still wish you might flip back a fraction ..... as I personally like a bit more depth and tone in the images .Not meaning more contrast.
    Cheers Andreas'

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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Very nice indeed. I like both images there is little to chose between them to my eye. The hyeana's eye glancing to the right really does grab attention as do the hairs in the inner rim of the right ear.
    Now a few questions if I may:
    I know I am becoming repetitive here, I recently asked the same question of Andreas but why would you need a faster shutter speed given that it is pin sharp? I suppose you might say you were lucky it didn't move at the critical point in time... but it didn't.
    Did you take a number of images at different shutter speeds?
    What I am really asking is do you think the detail would have been better with a faster shutter speed??

    In situations like these I would set the camera in manual exposure to something I regarded as ideal for the subject, I would select Auto ISO and +/- exposure compensation as required. After a satisfactory capture I would vary the shutter speed to see if I could get sharp images at lower speeds - just to see if I could get a better quality image at a lower ISO. I don't get the impression many agree with my logic, but I don't know why.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    I know I am becoming repetitive here, I recently asked the same question of Andreas but why would you need a faster shutter speed given that it is pin sharp?
    Like you Jon, I too am repeating myself .

    With advent of the 1DX & MKII they are design (and also I'm sure the Nikon too), to go shoot faster on the SS, as noise in the ISO is little or indeed managed within the camera and or PP. Shooting low like this isn't about the cameras ability, it's yours especially HH and so you have to also adopt a better 'stance' shall I say, and IMHO shooting in a different manner with your body compared to the majority of shooting.

    No need to shoot lower speed if you have already nailed it, it wastes time, battery life (not for the 1DX's) card space and there might be a even better frame looming. Shoot, nail, move on.

    Jon, remind me next time we talk, I'll explain and the rational from where this stems from.

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    The "snooted" light as you call it makes this work well Steve.
    I think I prefer Andreas' repost contrast/depth wise.
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Hi Steve, love the light cast over the pup's face, and yes, tack, tack sharp where it counts. Having said that, the detail on the nose, face and ears really shows up so well. Well captured.

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