Mane event

[Dorian Anderson]

This blonde male was sitting 5 feet of the road (near Satara in Kruger) on this rainy morning. I positioned the car to give my client the best view of the beast, then hopped into the backseat to capture a few frames of my own. There was no way to keep the road out of the frame with a full body view, so I went with this tighter view (i.e. 600 + 1.4) to eliminate that distraction. The original file was really yellow, but I've done my best to tame that cast without cooling the frame too much. Will be interesting to hear if I was successful on that front....

Canon 600mm f/4 IS II + 1.4x III on EOS R5
1/400 at f/5.6, ISO 2500
Processed in LR CC and Topaz DN. No cloning or clean-up.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Dorian, you have has some superb encounters, very cool.

The original file was really yellow, but I've done my best to tame that cast without cooling the frame too much.

Again, dependant on what you see on screen and if you add Vibrance too. If you are leaving it in Lr with profile set to Adobe colour it's just pants, looks good, but Adobe puts its spin on the file and technically screws it with Contrast & Saturation.

Overall I would like to seen more Tonal depth, more guts in that colour so you have more form & substance to the image, creating depth, changing a 2D into a 3D image. Secondly you missed a trick with the weather, you needed a much slower SS to emphasis the rain to again, give the image atmosphere, it's all lost, nothing much in PP, only in the camera techs. Finally it needs a sliver more below , it's too tight at the foot, otherwise fine IMHO.

TFS
Steve

[Dorian Anderson]

Hi Dorian, you have has some superb encounters, very cool.



Again, dependant on what you see on screen and if you add Vibrance too. If you are leaving it in Lr with profile set to Adobe colour it's just pants, looks good, but Adobe puts its spin on the file and technically screws it with Contrast & Saturation.

Overall I would like to seen more Tonal depth, more guts in that colour so you have more form & substance to the image, creating depth, changing a 2D into a 3D image. Secondly you missed a trick with the weather, you needed a much slower SS to emphasis the rain to again, give the image atmosphere, it's all lost, nothing much in PP, only in the camera techs. Finally it needs a sliver more below , it's too tight at the foot, otherwise fine IMHO.

TFS
Steve

I have no idea which color profile I'm using. It just says Profile: Color in the toolbar at right.

I'm not sure how to 'give color more guts' besides moving Vibrance and Saturation sliders, so any advice on that front is appreciated.

Rain trails are an interesting idea. Would be fun to play around with that a bit more. Sadly, with client barking orders and other cars jockeying for position, I didn't think about it.

I do not have more room at the foot at that's where the road comes cutting across. So, I'm outta luck on that front!

[Steve Kaluski]

I'm not sure how to 'give color more guts' besides moving Vibrance and Saturation sliders, so any advice on that front is appreciated.

Lr is only for Global adjustments, you need to have PS for the refinements, without this you can't progress with Curves and layers etc which will give you what you are missing. In addition without calibrating a monitor it is a pointless exercise because you are not on a level playing field.

[Dorian Anderson]

Curves and layers are above my pay grade, unfortunately. I don't understand either and have no clue how to use PS with its endless menus and boxes. Maybe I'll find the time to learn all this stuff at some point. Until then, LR it is!

And sure, monitor calibration would help. I just don't think the lack of obsessive commitment to calibration invalidates everything I and others are doing.

[Steve Kaluski]

Dorian, just treat yourself to Scott Kelby, a book that deals with both Lr for digital photographers, the same for Ps, but the most current from Amazon. You can then get both bits of Software for Adobe iCloud for a monthly fee of around $10 with all the upgrades over the year. Then check if you can calibrate your monitor, if you can purchase an X-rite product to suit your screen, calibrate your monitor. Job done!!!! If you read the books you can forget all the ‘stuff’ you may or may not have picked up along the way, your image will thank you. Photography & PP work hand in glove.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Dorian a very interesting image, I wasn't there but the colours do look a little strange to me. I do use a calibrated screen (I calibrate monthly) so we may never see anything as we might, then your younger eyes against mine well you see there is some considerable dichotomy, the only way to minimise that is to standardise then the only difference is perception/accuity. Just an aside if LR says COLOR as opposed to Adobe Color or Adobe Standard that seems to point to there not being a raw file going into LR, i.e a TIFF, just a thought.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Dorian .... another nice portrait of a " real cat " .
I do like the scars , makeing him more impressive IMHO . Personally i am more by the black maned Kalahari Lions , as i think the blondie´s are not that attractive overall .... but got nothing to do with your capture .
Apart from the strong " false WB " , personal taste , quite a strong image .
Nice low POV , albeit a bit more room at the foot would have been better .
Good point raised by Steve regarding the rain .... i always struggle myself to get this the way it looks good .

Nice one and TFS Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Good point raised by Steve regarding the rain .... i always struggle myself to get this the way it looks good .

Probably now with Mirrorless Andreas it's a lot easier because of IS and HH the kit, as you need a slow SS, 1/200 or less, but mindful of DoF as stopping down will swallow it up and become lost. It also comes down to what you want to see, streaks, long streaks etc. However.... works if you have a subject that is stopped or lying down rather than tracking or moving, then it screws the SS.

I think this is where some folk got confused in the early days think how good IS is and 7 stops etc, IS only dampens the movement of any camera shake, but you also need to have a reasonable SS to track subjects, so if you go to 1/60 that might be great HH but the subject will have motion blur.

[Basil Dardagan]

Dorian I have spent my life in South Africas NPs trying to get roads and the like out of my images - you have done a flippen good job of that imo. I love the wild feel to the image and the cats stare. This lion is so blonde that he looks a little like the white lion that is often seen around Satara (Casper)