This was a wonderful sighting we had in Bandhavgarh in the month of May. This handsome male Tiger was sitting on the forest track when we happened to arrive on the scene. Ours was the lone vehicle and so we had no worries to compete with other vehicles , chance for a peaceful sighting after all. Then after a couple of minutes he started to walk and then we had the privilege to watch a big Tiger moving nonchalantly in a lovely morning light . He kept on moving for a good 20 mins or so but on the downside he gave a few eye contacts , otherwise he kept his head down and moved on . It is thrilling to experience a wild tiger walking towards you and even better when no other vehicles are their to create any sort of chaos.
DPP4 , CS6, curves, levels, selective colour, saturation, cropped from all side ( more from top and left sides, slightly from the RHS and ever so slightly from the bottom ) , NR, sharpness .
Canon 5D MK III , Canon 500mm f4 IS II , Bean Bag,
Hi Haseeb, I want to see a Tiger on, or walking across the dam.
For me the pose is a bit awkward, I might crop more on the right and have more to the left. Looks a bit grainy, blacks look heavy. If you have time, pop the CRs over, I take a look.
It is thrilling to experience a wild tiger walking towards you and even better when no other vehicles are their to create any sort of chaos.
Hi Haseeb, how about something like this. Have the feeling late afternoon???? How far you go with colour or WB is personal choice, however I did take the liberty of removing the tree trunk that ran through.
Hi Haseeb ... well i would have loved to get a scene like this in feb this year ...
I like the head on look and the walking pose a lot , but i can see where Steve is coming from ....regarding the crop .
Lovely soft light an the eyes are having that nice sheen to them .I terms of tone and color , i think both are a wee bit heavy ...as a personal note .
But i would love to have that image in my collection .....
TFS Andreas
@ Steve : It is an early morning shot , hence i tried to keep it on a cooler side , but agree your version is far better . And after reducing the file size ( before sharpening ) my files tend to become crunchy and blacks look a bit heavy ( turning out to be an Achilles heel for me). Any help on this is much appreciated . And hope to build upon in my next posting .
Hi Haseeb, you know more or less what I have done to the Raw, after exporting to PS it's just some finer refinements, but I'm surprised to hear your files are looking crunchy and blacks looking heavy. In response to Andreas here I quickly tweaked the Blacks in Levels, not something I tend to do for a very long time, so the Blacks look a bit blacker, but now way clip. I might suggest you try not using any Contrast, or at least half the amount you normally use Haseeb, then look at the files, also, just make sure you monitor is properly calibrated.
As you use DPP Andreas may shed some more light, if you used LR then I could add some thoughts, although you should see a difference with your new toy.
Hi Haseeb how do you downsize ?
I actually do not understand where the crunchiness/heavy blacks are coming from ..... just by downsizing ??????
Cheers Andreas
@ Andreas -- downsizing steps : image size - And numerically change the dimension as per longest dimension. ( at this stage the crunchiness arises )
Then save as web for posting .
Hi Haseeb - What a thrilling sighting and to have it all to yourself I understand is very unusual in India. Great eye contact. Steve and Andreas have covered the tones and contrast well. Hopefully, you'll get the issue with your downsizing sorted. I would like to see more room below for the tiger to walk into. An image definitely worth reprocessing.
A fine sighting here Haseeb, with your OP the one for me, great velvia colour (agree with Andreas) with good techs and overall quality, just would prefer a tad more room all round.
Very jealous of your tiger, I do not even have one frame of this beautiful beast:) Techs spot on, subject nice and sharp and some nice eye contact there
I do notice the slight crunchiness and chocked blacks, IMO the problem lies somewhere between the chair and the computer, meaning the operator On a more serious note, having looked at Steve's RP I take it the RAW is stunning and all this frame needs is a lighter hand, try stay away from contrast tool and go easy on levels and curves, which you must of course apply selectively. The sharpening action you might be using could also have something to do with this issue, I guess to a lesser degree but worth investigating.
Overall a wonderful image and I took great pleasure viewing. Sadly, I have nothing to share for now but I will do so, as soon as I can. A bit rusty with PP work myself, so I will need everyone to chip in with comments and crits:)
I would love to have this frame in my files!!
I think Steve did well by including more space on the left. In terms of vibrance/colour I would go for something between your original post and Steve's repost.
I downsize the same way you do without it affecting the file in any way? I set mine on auto algorithm.