The King in B&W

[Rachel Hollander]

Peter Delaney suggested that my lion shot "The King" might work well in black and white. I thought I'd give it a quick try and I agree with Peter that it does convert nicely to b&w although I think I prefer the color version. I thought I'd see what you think. Thanks for the suggestion Peter.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 400mm
1/320
f6.3
ISO 800
Handheld from the vehicle. Slight crop from the right. I blurred the BG which was mostly barren branches more in PS.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Think I prefer the B/W version Rachel, but as I said in your previous post, a slightly tighter crop might work better. ;)

Would also try and get a bit more detail out in the dark 'nose' area.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Steve - I went back and did another conversion, upped the contrast, used s/h to bring out a little more detail in the nose, blurred the BG more and cropped it tighter. Let me know if this works for you.

Thanks,
Rachel

[stuart wanuck]

like first better nice image

[Ken Watkins]

Rachel,

This works very well in B & W, the second post looks better in terms of the Lion, but the additional blur on the BG, is a little too much for me.I also think that the RHS should have been left with the same width.

[Steve Kaluski]

For me, the repost has more 'guts' to it, more character in the face, although the BG, even in the original, is still slightly distracting. I'm getting to close to this one I think Rachel. :D

Steve

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Rachel, I prefer the composition of the OP, in colour. I think the BW works well on the lions, but it also brings out the BG too much for me. I do see what Steve says with more character in the lions face on the tighter crops, but the OP did it for me.:cool:
cheers
Grant

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Stuart, Ken, Steve and Grant for the comments. I agree that the B&W works on the lion but, like Grant, I prefer the color version and the original crop. For me, the golden rim light was what made the moment and the shot and that gets lost in the conversion to B&W.

I also agree with Ken that I went too far with the blur in the repost above (or maybe not far enough, perhaps an art shot with a black bg would work). Despite my feelings about the shot, the conversion suggestion was still a good one and I have gotten some good practice of PP.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Andrew Aveley]

I am alos in favor of B&W images like this. I would maybe suggest a little contrast to make pop a bit more. Option one is is far more appealing

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Andrew. Ok everyone, I went back to the RAW image did the conversion in DPP rather than PS and then upped the contrast selectively on the lion. Also no blur this time. Let me know if you like this more.

[Rachel Hollander]

And finally for Steve - one more attempt at a closer crop.

Thanks all,
Rachel

[Loong-Tat Wong]

Hi Rachel
Like the last crop best! The intensity of the gaze is so nice!

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Loong-Tat

[Robert Amoruso]

Rachael,

I bit late to the Party but I like the last crop with no BG blur. Note that the branches mimic the scare on the nose and also lend a nice graphic quality to the B&W image.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Robert. Btw better late than never. :)

Thanks again,
Rachel