Botswana Lion Cub
Canon 7D, Canon 300mm f2.8is lens, iso 500, s/Speed 1/250s, f2.8. No cropping. Handheld from a vehicle. Location Selinda Reserve, Botswana. April 2010. 17h51. Image processed in ACR, sharpened in PS. I lightened the eyes a little with a brush. This lion cub was investigating it's surroundings as the evening fell. The rest of the pride were awake and nearby but not moving about too much. It approached the vehicle very closely as it was curious.
All C and C welcome
Grant
www.grantatkinson.com
Great look of curiosity on that face. Also like the way you got the face sharp in relation to the rest of the photo. I might try a little off the top to minimize the downward angle feel.
Hi Grant, again, a nice inquisitive cub and I like the full on look.
I am surprise with the 300, but I am not sure if it's that sharp based on the eyes? Perhaps the combination of SS and shooting at 2.8, but I think you should have a sharper image, would have gone to 800 or even 1000 ISO to then drop to say 5.6. Shooting at 2.8 is asking a lot I think here Grant. Might like to try another round of USM just on the face.
Could you open the image in DPP and Ctlr/Apple J to show where the focus point was, be good to know for feedback.
Not sure if this helps, ran some more USM, cropped and added a slight boost to the image.
TFS
Steve ;)
Drop me a line if you have any questions.
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Cubs of big cats are raining on BPN :D Such a pleausre to see them , excellent pose , cuteness all over , I guess this image needs minor color correction , good call on sharpness Steve
TFS this ,
ps , Mods can we have theme in wildlife like Fabs projects in Avians , I guess not a bad idea
Last edited by Harshad Barve; 06-23-2010 at 06:20 AM. Reason: pathetic repost , removed it
Thanks Steve, your repost looks much sharper. I am afraid my sharpening techniques for web are not up to scratch..I am always worried about oversharpening
I will check up on the original to see where the focus point was
Thanks for the work
cheers
Grant
Originally Posted by Harshad Barve
Hi Steve
We can have various themes in WL , WDYT ?
BR
Harshad
Hi Grant - needed cuteness alert for this one. Love the inquisitive look. Agree with other comments, though I like the muted bg in op better than in repost.
TFS,
Rachel
Hi Grant This must be cuteness week with all the cute little guys posted !!
Like the re post maybe just a little less saturation? Just a bit !! Sharpening wise its easy to judge and can give a suggestion. Sharpen on a layer and can even over sharpen some then reduce the opacity to make it look good. btw make sure you are sharpening at the working resolution and seeing the image at 100% ..btw if you do sharpen on a layer can use a layer mask to do away with sharpening in areas you don't want like the bg !!!
Thanks Al, do you sharpen the downsized-for-web image again, after sharpening the full res one in PS...that is the bit that confuses me a bit
Also I am working on a 15inch laptop monitor of no great quality, will that make a big difference? (that is all i have i am afraid-spend my hard earned cash on glass).
Thanks for the other suggestions..
Steve, I had the centre focus point on the bridge of the muzzle, right between the eyes..I was hoping that was at the same distance from me as the eyes, but you could classify it as operator error again:).
cheers
Grant
Grant
lovely image Grant - very cute. agree it should appear sharper but it seems you don't sharpen after resizing which could be the problem.
it's important to do your sharpening after resizing as downsizing softens the image as a whole. I rarely sharpen the full-res image unless I'm preparing it for a competition entry or a print. When resizing for web I will normally select the subject, feather the selection a bit and contract it by 1 or 2 pixels (this will avoid getting sharpening halos around the edges of the subject), and then run one or two rounds of "Smart Sharpen" at 125%, 0.2px or 0.3px depending on the desired sharpness.
Hope this helps? Al's suggestion of a mask also works well, especially with landscape/wider shots where some details will appear crisper than others.
PS: your OP has a greenish cast which Steve seems to have sorted out...:)
Grant, the FP is in the right place. :D
Agree Al, add 10%warm on the slider so it boosted the Saturation. On reflection that was too much. Issue when you have some presets in place!!!
Give Smart sharpen a go Grant, but I think it is too severe and USM is kinder overall. They all have their place, just depends on what you are doing. You can also do sharpening in Channels which voids halos etc, etc...
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Grant, I use the USM on my original working file and then run it again when I have my final image sized and ready for the web. It is working much better than the fussy way I used to do it and I think my final images are looking better (in my eyes anyway).
This is a lovely inquisitive cub, but agree with previous comments regarding sharpness and maybe asking too much of the lens at the SS you used.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions and explanations, I will see what I can do with the sharpening next time I post.
Grant
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