Tug-o-War
Our Christmas box, this final tug-o-war between these young cheetahs. We missed the kill by 15 minutes, but got one the next day, Boxng day! About 30 km north of Twee Rivieren on the Mata Mata Road ~ Full frame
D300S
600 f4 + 1.4 TC
ISO 800; AP; 1/1600; Matrix; -0,3EV; 08h01
Last edited by Callie de Wet; 01-19-2010 at 02:56 PM.
Well seen and captured, certainly a image I won't say no to in my library:)
Great interaction and posture, setting the scene of the days events. Sadly it isn't sharp (for me) which is a real shame, because this has so much potential as images go. I would think, based on the time of day, you would have good, strong light, but the ISO is at 800 giving only 1/600 is that because of the lens & TC? A little tweaking in PS may help the overall depth and colour IMHO.
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Callie I told you the other day: love this shot and wish I was there to witness it too!!
I have to say, though, it is not sharp as Steve mentioned. Did you sharpen after resizing as I showed you?
Here is my quick rework - but working with it I noticed there was very few details to sharpen on the cheetahs - as if you applied the noise reduction to the entire image? I also toned down the highlights some.
Steve, Thank you, the SS was 1/1600:o, but it was hand held, trying to keep the lens on the action. Will have another look to see if the sharpening can be improved.
Morkel I really battled with the BG, to get it separated from the subject. I ran the noise reduction over the whole BG, including the cheetahs, but had the isolated cheetahs on top. Still struggle to get your workflow right and done!:(
Callie, sorry missed of the 1 in 1600 oops
I still think you could have dropped the ISO, plus this would help with any noise issues and would then not require any additional filters that might drop the quality of your image. Surprised to hear that this Nikon does have noise, I thought it was us Canon users who suffered from that.:D:D
Morkels re post has done a lot for the image, but think you could drop a little in the red channel too.
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
I agree with Steve - in light like this I would not venture above ISO-400, even though the D300s which I handled in Kruger in December was very good at ISO 640-1250
Great action Callie !!! Tough hand holding that big lens !!! Sure wish you could have stopped down an little more but agree the premium is on having something sharp !!! Accurate placing of the sensor is at a premium here !!! ... could you make use of a monopod? would help !!!
Great action, although I think the red is still present in the repost. Cooling the temperature may help.
Fabs I actually didn't tone down the reds in my repost :o
Hi Callie, great sighting, and with a fixed lens, you were disavantaged to zoom out to include the tail. Dont get disheartened regarding pp work. Play with the image until YOU are happy. Little tweaks here and there all add up. When running NR, select the BG, and only run it on the BG.
Callie, all said above already, just want to add to Stu's comment- hang in there with the pp work, it does take time and effort and it seems as if everyone has another method, but in time you will find your own best way- from someone who still forgets the techniques faster than using them:) BTW, a great sighting and action, I still need a cheetah, any cheetah, for my files.
The original needs a little sharpening, the colour looks quite natural to me (too much red in the repost). Whilst it is a shame to clip a tiny little bit of the tail I do not think this distracts overly.
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