Portrait of a Zuka Lioness

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Friends,

Here is a lovely young lioness I had the pleasure to spend some time with recently at Zuka Private Game Reserve. I quite liked the way she perched herself at the top of a small mound and rested a while, checking the surroundings. She was light in colour and very powerfully built, a girl in her prime. Unfortunately she had a thorn in one paw and limped a little... I plan to go look for her again soon and see how she is doing.

Nikon D5
Nikon 200-400 F4 (@ 400mm)
ISO 500
F5.6
1/2000s

Been glued to the 500 F4 lens for a very long time so recently decided to experiment a little with my other lenses. Frame was shot without support from a game viewer, I was seated at the back so a bit high, managed to sneak between the seats for better POV. Nothing fancy about this image but I thought I'd share nevertheless, it was processed in LR and PSCC with very few tweaks. Looking forward to hear your opinions, many thanks for feedback on my previous images, much appreciated

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, a rather 'thoughtful, reflective' look perhaps for this Lioness, or just thinking about that thorn?

The 500 is great and the 200-400 too, the zoom has framed things quite well, although personally I'm not a lover of the OOF greenery creeping in on the RHS, I find it jars a little, but lets see. Have you blurred the BKG, it appears very smooth, perhaps some masking in LR? Colours look OK, perhaps a little less Black & Contrast ditto the Orange in both sliders, going negative, as I think it just lifts the image more. May be f/7.1 just to pull the ears in, but not a deal breaker at all.

Great to see you posting images too, keep them coming.

TFS
Steve

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much Steve,

I think the thorn was very annoying, saw her try to extract it from the paw pad but it must have been deep.

Cropped as much as I could from the OOF vegetation. Unfortunately we could not move around at the scene because the other lioness was right behind me:)

Regarding BG - it was for me the most attractive feature of the scene because it was quite far away, so to my mind "guaranteed to be smooth", a bit like the Zimanga set-up at the hides. For that reason I also choose this particular DoF. The lioness was on top of a mound, behind her there was a wide drainage line. I do not have any software to soften BG and never done any NR to my images. Don't know how to, if the frame isn't good enough or too noisy I just don't post it I read about Neat Image and other software here on BPN but never tried it, do you think it's worth it?

[Steve Kaluski]

I think the thorn was very annoying, saw her try to extract it from the paw pad but it must have been deep.

As you know, Lions carry their own Antibiotics, so she should be good if it comes out, better than a Porcupine quills I'm sure.

At 400 the lens should compress things so no problem.

I do not have any software to soften BG and never done any NR to my images.

But you do, PS > Blur , but a little masking in LR (under sharpening) would be OK. Noise yo can control, I'll drop you a line.

Glad we have sorted the 'darkness' out, hopefully it has also shed some light on Past & future images.

[Gabriela Plesea]

I will ask Mrs Lion to give me some antibiotics to sell in my pharmacy Hope she's ok Steve, at times those wounds get infected but I hope it's not the case here. Will look for her at the week-end, weather permitting.

I think you told me to me at stage how to deal with the noise but I lost all my emails on my laptop some time ago.

Thank you for throwing some light on my "darkness" issues, LOL. You are the best

[Steve Kaluski]

I think you told me to me at stage how to deal with the noise but I lost all my emails on my laptop some time ago.

I think it might be worth you creating a 'pre-set' in LR which covers some of the standard tweaks you constantly do/use. As a result you can forget a lots, as it's done at a click of a button.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gabriela .... Happy New year !!!!
A nice solid portrait to start off into the new year ...
I do like the rich greens and the overall comp ....nice details and the colors are looking good to me . Maybe dropping the oranges a fraction in her ...?
Well done little sister !!

TFS Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Steve, I will do so - thank you. I think it will save me some time as well

Andreas Boetie, Happy 2019 to you!!!Great to see you back and posting! I just got some advice from Steve and busy with an RP now. Will drop the orange too. A bit late so time to go to the feathers, more tomorrow

Warmest regards,

[John Mack]

Looks quite good. I like the composition and the pose. Nice background as well. Details look great. Hope to see more of your images this year.

[Marc Mol]

Love the pensive mood/pose here Gabriela,

some good critique from Steve/Andreas and agree with the OOF greenery, but really surprised to hear that you've never tried any form of NR, so will look forward to see how your tuition/PP skills develop along those lines.

It's interesting to see you going back to the 200-400, I did have that lens but sold it many years ago for the 500/4 and just now have taken delivery (on the 31st Dec) of the brilliant new Nikkor 180-400 f/4, and will look forward to testing it out on my future Sth Luangwa trips.

Wishing you great sightings & happiness in 2019!

TFS

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you John and Marc, and a very Happy New Year to you both!!!

John, I will try post more often this year

Marc, would love to see some images with your new lens! My 200-400 F4 is relatively new, I only purchased it last year and hardly used it. BTW I cannot get a lens coat for it, not available around here. Regarding NR, I never really felt it was needed so did not make an effort to learn how to do it

Hope you both have a lovely day,

[Jonathan Ashton]

A nicely detailed and exposed image, the ears do look a tad rich, other than that I like it very much.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much dear Jon, much appreciated

[Jay Shah]

Hi Gabriela, very nice portrait. She does look quite strong. And based on your explanation, that solemn expression is due to pain and not year end reflection on the year gone by! Love the details and the color contrast against the silky smooth BG.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Many thanks Jay, very kind words, really appreciate your time to view and comment