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Thread: Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright !

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    Default Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright !

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    Hello everyone. Thank you for all your comments and suggestions to my previous post as always much appreciated.

    This is a Tiger portrait which i made on my previous trip to Bandhavgarh in April 2019. She wanted to cross on other side of the road but was hounded by vehicles . Luckily we were positioned in front of other vehicles on our side and hence controlled the traffic by stopping our vehicle and provided the space for the feline to crossover. As there were many vehicles on opposite side, hence, I decided to shoot as tight as possible to avoid getting vehicles in the frame and also was able to get that nice creamy bokeh because of the dry grass in the bkg.

    Not always possible to get good Tiger images amidst the chaos but you have to make most of the situation. Also the light was very good to make something out of the situation.

    DPP 4.8, PSCC 2020, WB, curves, levels, selective colour, sharpening, cropped from the LHS as viewed to eliminate some part of a vehicle, cloned out some unwanted grass behind the tigress and also one strand in front of the cat.

    Canon 1DX MKII, Canon 200-400mm f4 @ 560mm, HH.

    ss 1/2500, f/5.6, iso 2500

    Looking forward for all your comments and suggestions, be it of any nature.

    Haseeb.

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    HI Haseeb, Nice shot of the tiger without any distractions. I like the clean BG and the head turn and eye contact you got here. Colours looks good and the framing works. I would have expected more detail in the fur with these techs and a bit more sharpness.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Haseeb, this takes me back to the first ever Tiger shot I did, nice memories!

    I would look perhaps at a 10x8 and reduce some of the negative space on the LHS. Personally I might have pegged the both Contrast & Blacks a bit back and added a little more saturation, even darkened the BKG a fraction too, to add some more separation. Details look good.

    would have expected more detail in the fur with these techs and a bit more sharpness.
    Sanjeev, he's shooting wide open, the lack of detail on the right I feel is down to DoF, being this close I may have gone to f/8.

    TFS
    Steve

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    Yes Steve, you are right. Face looks detailed and sharp, body fur that I mentioned could be due to DOF.

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    Thank you Doc and Steve , your comments and suggestions are appreciated.

    @ Doc -- Its because of DOF, I wanted to stop down but then I felt a tack sharp face will do.

    @ Steve -- as per your suggestions I tried darken the bkg but didnt quite grabbed me, simply I feel the Tiger popped nicely against much lighter bkg. I had reduced contrast and blacks in PP , I feel it looks pretty fine to my eye but nevertheless will try and see by reducing it some more. I would prefer this crop as it is allowing some space for the Tiger to move in. I am pretty happy with this result, but that doesn't mean i am not open to change things as per the suggestions received.

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    Thanks Haseeb. It is indeed a fine shot that I would have been happy to get.

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    Haseeb, if you think it’s fine then don’t change it, it was just a thought, however remember, shooting ‘Standard’ and using DPP you already have Saturation, Sharpening and Contrast etc, already applied prior to any PP from memory, but Andreas is best place to advise.

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    Nice tiger and in some nice light. Like the framing and the open mouth here. The grasses are a nice touch to the setting.

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    Hello Haseeb,

    A fine image of a beautiful Tiger and I love the HA and expression. As well as mouth slightly open and that pink nose... Whiskers too...Superb timing, and nice work under pressure - don't know how you do it under such conditions!

    I quite like the negative space on the LHS. But my personal feeling is, the bottom left corner (probably just grasses) which is a tad darker than the rest of the image is somewhat distracting- it is for this reason that I would crop a bit.

    Well exposed, well processed, wonderful colours and detail is really nice. You had more than enough SS so it would have been good to try a few shots at various apertures, F7.1 or F8 would have been sweet, I completely agree with Steve.

    Hope you have more such images 'in stock', would love to see. Really enjoyed this one

    Kind regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Thank you Gabriela and John , much appreciated.

    @Steve -- Lets wait for Andreas reply.

    @ Gabriela -- Glad to have you back, hope you are doing all well . I can see what you meant by that crop suggestion, will see how it makes the difference.
    As far as trying different apertures , it was very difficult in all the chaos and jostling for position and angles. The tiger did quickly crossed as well.

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    Thank you Haseeb,

    All good and very happy to be back, thank you!

    I do understand your difficulty at the time, having shared a game viewer with friends in December Elbows and hats and whatnot as soon as the subject enters the scene, everyone forgets about the people behind them while trying to get the shot. I usually sit at the back on my own because I carry too much gear, POV not great but I really like the space

    Let's see some more tigers, please
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Hi Haseeb .... this is by far the best one from you in terms of tiger postings IMHO !!! Said this only looking at the image from the technical/ editing POV . I am gonna love the fine detail , you have extracted !!!!

    I do like the overall color /tone combo , well executed . No detail lost in shadow and HL !!!

    I see where Steve is coming from with his thoughts , and for sure always worth to try out .... but i would be happy with the OP !! Not saying that there is no room to play .... but for me only very marginally and very selective .

    To Steve .... in the end it does not matter which picture style you use , as all can be changed in DPP . It helps in the field if you change the picture style to neutral/ faithful and reduce color/ contrast in the presets !!!

    A very fine image Haseeb , very well done from shoot to finish !!!

    Cheers Andreas

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    Thank you Andreas , for your very kind words. I do start with standard picture style in the field and then switch to neutral in DPP , isn’t it the same ? What different will it make if I use neutral directly on the field ?

    @ Gabriela — Doc always sits in the back seat , have you already told him abt this ? I wonder why he was so successful on our Bandhavgarh trip. :)

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    @ Gabriela — Doc always sits in the back seat , have you already told him abt this ? I wonder why he was so successful on our Bandhavgarh trip. :)[/QUOTE]

    No I haven't LOL. POV not great at the back, but then it all depends what kind of vehicle is used for game viewing. Nice to have some space though, at least no people behind you

    I suspect Doc must have had some 'secret potion' or ' concoction' to attract the Tigers, cannot believe what amazing sightings you guys had!
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Hi Haseeb .... here are my camera settings in both 1Dx and 1Dx Mark II in terms of picture style .

    Neutral or Faithful . Everyday use is neutral .... if i like to have a warmer starting point i choose Faithful .

    Contrast is set to -4
    Saturation -2
    Color 0
    Sharpness 0

    WB Auto

    Adobe RGB ( color space )

    For me the best starting point to shoot ETTR .

    If the subject or scene is very bright i might change to Highlight Priority , drops the HL and shifts the tone curve ( internal and cannot be changed afterwards in DPP )
    As a general info ..... all picture styles containing tone curves / saturation / hues /contrast/ sharpness in different ways . But generally not a good idea if you want to have good control about all these named things.
    What we see on camera or in software is not the original RAW file ... always is a tone curve applied !!!! The real raw file is ugly looking thing to look at !!

    My files are looking relatively flat and lifeless when being watched in DPP , it is a base image where i start to build up tone , color and basic sharpening .
    One can always play with the picture style in DPP ... but not in camera IMHO.
    If i change the picture style in DPP , i firstly drop the contrast to -4 / saturation -2 / sharpness 0
    Work on WB , neutral as possible !!!
    NR set to 0 ( luminance ) leave chrominance as default .

    From there on i built up the image to make it ready for export to photoshop , and for sure it is not finished it is still a base image .
    The majority of work is in PS .... simply i have more and better tools within PS to create a look or a feel .

    Hope this helps ....

    regards Andreas

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    If the subject or scene is very bright i might change to Highlight Priority , drops the HL and shifts the tone curve ( internal and cannot be changed afterwards in DPP )
    You may find Contrast increases likewise noise. On the MK2 I have D+ (HTP) set in My Settings, or with the 5D in the Info panel, both make it easy to Enable or Disable.

    Thanks for the input Andreas.

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    My pleasure .... hope folks do pick up the detailed details , and try them out !!!!!!!
    Will make life easier in the field and later in the digital darkroom .

    Thanks for the additional info on the D+ function Steve !!

    Cheers Andreas

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    Thank you Andreas , that information you shared seems pretty useful . I must be on the field asap to try with those settings. Also , in DPP I am not too far from what you suggested, but certainly there is a scope for improvement. I have got some better understanding with all these interactions on BPN and emails with you all on how to get more details in PP but still a long away. I will have to improve my field craft , as I feel I do tend to make a lot of silly mistakes while out there. Getting a proper raw helps in building a proper file in the PP.

    Thanks you Steve as well for your inputs .

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    Hi Haseeb, just shoot at home and get used to using ETTR, if you get the histogram right, but on import it looks/appears light in Exposure, then darken via Exposure, no problem, but the key point is you capture the most data before clipping. If it’s water HL’s don’t worry they will be blown more than likely.

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    I will try my hand on a squirrel.

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    OK, but try not to shoot it backlit as you then need to change settings again.

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