This one looks like a cub to me and is from the Okavango Delta in Botswana. Nothing much out of the ordinary here but I did like the glance behind and somewhat unorthodox pose. Fairly small crop to get this. One time where a zoom came in handy enabling me to zoom back to get this. There's no more room below in case you are wondering.
Thanks for looking and any comments you may have.
Technical: Canon 80D with Lens EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 188mm handheld. Manual exposure 1/160, f7.1, ISO 1250. Processed in Canon DPP 4 (digital lens optimiser @ 50, Sharpness = 3, crop, lighting adjustments, default luminance NR) then exported 16 bit TIFF to Photoshop Elements. Modest NR and sharpening to animal and stronger NR to background. Lighting adjustments to animal (midtone contrast) and background selectively (dropped contrast). Sharpened subject only (sharpness function: remove Gaussian blur, radius = 0.5 pixels, 50%) after final size reduction.
Hi Glenn - This works very well. Definitely a youngster. The look back pose is classic and you've got good dof. Only thing I might do if it were mine is open up the midtones just very slightly.
Hi Glenn this works really well for me , love the over the shoulder look back !!
They are really lovely characters at this size and still look cute ...not as the adults .
Clean image and the tones do look quite good to me , with good details across the tonal range . Overall the image appears quite warm and very much on the yellow side ...you have been there . So up to you, how to see the colors .
I think the WB is a bit off from my POV ..... just had a quick go and changed the WB to something more neutral , might b not your cuppa .
But look how much life is coming into tone and colors across the image ...well for sure a matter of taste .
Hope this helps to illustrate my view
Thank you Rachel and Andreas, also for your rework and repost Andreas. The colour on your version doesn't look right - too cool/blue. Maybe mine is too warm but probably closer to where I think I'd like it.
Hi Glenn, I agree to a point with the above comments, techs look good, but sadly the SS is low, not ideal, but again we have covered this and at this size it looks OK.
The image does look too warm (yellow) and going cooler helps, but then IMHO you have to then balance colour and the 'environment', but again, this to a point this then becomes subjective, albeit that getting in 'target' range the image then becomes a personal taste.
Backing of to almost -40 on Contrast, adding a third of a stop Exposure, without question brings back more midtone, resulting in more detail. I've tried to keep the 'warmth' you had in the OP within the subject.
Hi Glenn, beautiful hyena, lovely image. I have never seen many in my life and if so only in a zoo so I cannot comment on the color. I like the composition and setting. Thank you for sharing.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
Many thanks Steve and Joe - and for your repost and thoughts on changing this Steve. I have revisited this taking in your ideas (colour/WB, tone/brightness and contrast) but without looking back at the reposts. I think both reposts are on the right track but my own interpretation of the extent of those changes is what I've tried to reflect in the repost. As you note Steve, colour is somewhat subjective and my recollection was of relatively golden grass. Hope you like this one better. I'd overlooked this one for a while thinking it wasn't that interesting but think it has been worth working up and the extra work involved in taking on board your comments to a greater or lesser degree.
Hi Glenn, good look back pose, and this is certainly a youngster, due to the size of its head. Im glad you got him more in the open, and good DOF on the whole body. With regards to colour, I feel Hyena coats do vary slightly in colour, so something between Steve's and your image in pane #7.
Spotted hyena
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