Face to Face

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi All,
Here is another image from Tipeshwar as the tiger got closer to us. Had no time to remove the extender so no room below, Could have used the 100-400 II on my 5D4 but was too eager to shoot with my newly acquired 1DX II. Used the fine detail picture style suggested by Steve, Hope it looks better.
700mm
1/1600
f/8
ISO 1600

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Sanjeev, I think your first choice would have been the better one in this instance, why?. Well the 5D4 would have allowed you to crop to the 1DX2 without much IQ loss and avoided the very tight framing at the foot. Although you can see, being further away added the POV. With the low ISO just for a bit of security 1/2000+ I think here as he was on the move, your movement or anyone else with you, but looks OK. Just popping a bit of Lights in the Midtone (Curves adjustment) just adds that fraction of pop. The sharpening is better, but hopefully Jon will comment over the next few days and add his thoughts here with DPP as a reminder for you Sanjeev.

TFS
Steve

[Jonathan Ashton]

Colours look good mid tones perhaps a little tweak to give a lttle more expression. Fine detail setting often oversaturates oranges but yours looks ok. It maybe the light angle but the hairs in the ears look perhaps just a little oversharpened(?) (Worth checking the default sharpening on Fine Detail if you didn't I pretty much guarantee there would have been too much)
I have to confess when I had the 5D IV I hardly used the 1DX at all.
Image shape/crop, perhaps a little too much of the back is shown, it looks chopped off whereas if it was cropped closer the shoulder it would have looked intentional.
Hope this doesn't sound too critical because I think it is a pleasing image.

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks Jon for chiming in, Sanjeev I would take the opportunity to take stock of your Workflow and settings within DPP, then contact Jon (if required) to hopefully refine them, as it will pay off in the long run.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Thanks Steve and Jon, I use DPP to open RAW, the sharpening is set to 3, usual editing and cropping etc followed by export to PS CC 2019. After initial steps I resize to 1400 px and then sharpen with USM 30%, 0.3 radius for 1-3 rounds depending on image sharpness. Then save for web. Will check fine detail settings.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks Steve and Jon, I use DPP to open RAW, the sharpening is set to 3, usual editing and cropping etc followed by export to PS CC 2019. After initial steps I resize to 1400 px and then sharpen with USM 30%, 0.3 radius for 1-3 rounds depending on image sharpness. Then save for web. Will check fine detail settings.

Sanjeev, it's not appropriate for me to say right or wrong but if multiple rounds at 30% are your preference I would suggest one round at 0.3 radius and subsequent rounds at 0.2 or even a final at 0.1, I think 3 rounds at 0.3 when performed on a 1400px image may be part of the crunchiness.
As mentioned inthe PM I would suggest Sharpness in DPP to be around 1.5-2.0 (provided your lenses are micro adjusted!)

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Thanks Jon, got the PM will work on it. Much appreciated.

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks again Jon and I hope the exchanges will be fruitful Sanjeev, plus I also apprecaite that we have now extended it to exchanges via PM's.

I don't think the 'Output' sharpening settings are an issue, it's more from the 'Input' amounts and perhaps how critically sharp the RAW is. Sanjeev would you mind popping the Raw over to Jon & myself, just in case there is something else we can add too.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Very late here Sanjeev, my apologies. But as always I am enjoying the exchanges I see you had an amazing time in Tipeshwar, lots of tiger sightings. And you must have been so excited about the new camera

Nice POV here and great eye contact. The rock behind the tiger is a bit unfortunate and I agree with your self-critique, framing a bit tight at the bottom - I had the same issue yesterday, bumped into a small pride of lions and realised I had too much lens...the gear I actually needed was lying at the back of the truck

Colours look better here and so does sharpening, comparing to some of your latest postings - there's room for improvement though and I am glad Steve and Jon are helping you. BG seems to be affected by heat haze, are the temperatures quite high this time of the year in Tipeshwar?

I am sure there's much more in your folders from this trip so I am looking forward to see your future posts. Just curious, what other wildlife does one get to see or photograph at this location, apart from tigers?

Kind regards,