Lion Profile

[Rachel Hollander]

I processed this one in Silver Efex a while ago. Taken on my 2016 trip to Tswalu. This is one of the 3 male youngsters.

Canon 5D3
300 II plus 2x III
1/1000
f8
ISO 800
Monopod from safari vehicle, ff, converted using control points in Silver Efex, levels, curves, sharpened in PSCC.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Glenn Pure]

Great pose and background, Rachel and superb detail. I'm puzzled by your choice of a shot with foreground vegetation in front of the lion. Your use of tones in this conversion appears very well handled as it shows a full range of tones, with good detail across the shadows and mid tones although the brightest highlights are missing a little detail to my eye, for example just behind the mouth and a few spots below the ear. I think I would have handled this conversion quite differently but welcome your interpretation as a fresh way of looking.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Glenn. For me, none of the fg foliage is encroaching on the face of the lion so it wasn't a problem. I liked the feeling of the lion secretly looking out from behind the foliage in search of prey (though he was actually looking for the rest of the pride). I'll take a look at the hls.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Rachel,

I really love the pose - emerging from the bushes with that intense stare... Full of character and personality.

The B&W conversion looks very good to me; seems to be a question of personal taste; maybe a little tweak on the highlights, but it looks great to me as it is!

Regards, Gerald

[Jonathan Ashton]

Looks good to me Rachel... a shame Silver Effex will no longer available.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Rachel,

Beautiful young male lion with a nice strong profile. He has such a stubborn face, I like it:)

Conversion reveals lovely detail. Lighting conditions a bit difficult and some of the shadows appear quite strong. Kindly check above the R ear and top of the head, not sure what those faint grey shapes are.

I do understand your thinking behind the image, those branches (we call this bush drie-doering) add drama and context to the story. So I am happy with this as presented, Rachel - thank you so much for sharing

Kind regards,

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Gerald, Jon and Gabriela. Gabriela - they are shadows from the bush.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel , conversion and the crop / comp working quite well .Nice side profile
Lovely separated BG and the detail you have extracted is very nice and super sharp !!!!
Personally i think the less ideal lighting angle is a killer in this instance , might be different in color .

TFS Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Personally i think the less ideal lighting angle is a killer in this instance

Hi Rachel, agree with Andreas, it's a bit 'safe', plus the tones seem to be all within a % grey when you squint your eyes, so for me it needs to be much stronger both in tone and lighting as not all colour shots convert to B/W, hence why I have said about if you want to present things as b/W then you need to change set-up. In that way you get a far better understanding as to whether it works or not.

Techs look good and being side on to the sensor is perfect.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Andreas and Steve.