This image was made at dawn. As you can see from the spec, there was not enough light or contrast so camera was struggling to focus on the moving lion. But when I saw the image on computer, it looked more like water color painting than a photograph and somehow I liked the look as it was unusual. So for the theme of the month I have tried this high key rendering in B&W.I dont have critical eye for the B&W so would appreciate your comments on whether this works or not.
Hi Jay -- Same goes for me , can't go much right with critique when it comes to BW, but I feel this looks nice. The eye contact , head on angle, and the bright bkg , makes the Lion standout. I wish there was more form around the mane which is completely mixed with the white bkg, I also would have cropped slightly from the top for more into the face image. lets see what others have to say.
Hi Jay, I like the frame with the subject really standing out. Agree with most of the critique of Haseeb. The head-on pose and eye contact is nice. TFS.
Hi Jay, if the subject was more 'head on' to you the lion would engage better with the viewer.
In terms of the conversion, this to me looks like it is straight out of NIK 'bank' of options and so the creative side is less appealing, but I might be wrong?
This looks really nice, I like the mood you were going for and the bright offset around the lion.
I think it would have been a tad better with a hint more space at the bottom and less at the top?
Hi everyone, glad to know that you too liked painting like look of this image. Good to have this reality check as I really thought of painting like look as I saw this image on the computer. I always saw and thought in color.. But thanks to the theme of the month, I am studying more on power and techniques of processing B&W images and slowly it is growing on me. Will keep experimenting with B&W and this painterly look -- I think there are images where it can create as interesting images. Thanks for all your comments, critiques and compliments.
Steve, no Nik. I use two PS adjustments in combination --B&W and Gradient map.