Keep Your Head High

[Rachel Hollander]

Been a while since I posted an image. I finally upgraded from PSE to CS5 and have been trying to get the hang of it but work keeps getting in the way. Taken in the Timbavati Game Reserve, South Africa.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 400mm
1/250
f5.6
Handheld from a safari vehicle. No crop.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Hilary Hann]

Rachel, I've looked at this a few times before commenting so probably bumped up the view count! :eek:

I like the very close crop showing off his gnarled face. I like the fact that you can just see his left eye but I think both eyes could take another round of sharpening. I think you've kept good detail in the lion's muzzle and he almost looks like he's smiling (I know, just a trick of his mouth, but it is rather attractive). The background is good and the way he is cropped (in camera) gives a strong diagonal line across the image.

I do think though, that the image could take a shadow/highlight adjustment to open up the mane. I've done a rough repost here. Someone like Steve Kaluski with better pp skills would be better able to advise, I'm sure. Hope you don't mind.

[Per-Gunnar Ostby]

I like this shot a lot, and the repost really makes it pop

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Rachel, nice portrait, good colour in his eyes, and a nice interesting, and "interested" pose by the lion. Agree that it could be even better with a little more work on the detail, Hilarys repost goes some way toward that for me. One small detail I noticed is the tear duct, or discharge in front of his eye is very bluish. I feel it might benefit from being warmed a little..
The hard work you did well already, and good use of your zoom lens to get something a little different.
cheers
Grant

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, great to see you back and posting images.

I really like this close in shot, it has a really nice feel and composition about it. It reminds me of Aslan.

Personally I prefer the OP as the tones & colour are more 'cooler' and to me look more 'natural', whereas the repost the reds are just too strong. I might just selectively lighten the face a fraction & take some of the blue out of the image in Curves, especially around the eye. I think it could also do with some more USM, but I am not sure how sharp the original is? Rachel if you initially did this in Canon's DPP, or not, could you open it up in DPP and do Apple I or the equivalent, this should show where the Focus point is, be good to know. It might be just down to, too low a SS?

Not sure if this helps to illustrate my thoughts, sadly done on the laptop so no real control on colour. Happy to delete, just let me know.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everyone. I think Steve is right about the color being more natural in the OP. This male had a fairly dark mane. Here's a repost trying to incorporate the comments and suggestions. Please let me know what you think. Also I had forgotten to do another round of USM after resizing so hopefully this has helped. The AF point is just to the right of the eye (oops). I should have also listed in the OP that the ISO was 400.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Arthur Morris]

I love this intimate view of the monarch and Hillary's sharpening of the eyes in the repost is perfect. From there I would remove the Blue cast from the front of the eye socket.

[Hilary Hann]

Think you've done an excellent job Rachel, a fine image worth the attention.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Artie and Hilary for the comments. Artie - Your workflow in Digital Basics has been one of the easier guides to follow for CS5.

Rachel

[Marc Mol]

A fine portrait here Rachel of the king, depicting a certain regal arrogance, I like Hilary's repost also if taken out the blue near the eye.
TFS

[Steve Canuel]

Rachel,
I agree with Marc's comment about "regal arrogance". A nice tight portrait, your repost takes care of my critique. Have you found a big improvement in your images since your upgrade?

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Marc and Steve. Marc, "regal arrogance" is a good description of this lion.

Steve, I haven't processed enough images yet to see difference but have mostly done experimenting with the different capabilities. There's definitely a learning curve in stepping up to CS5 but there is more fine tuning available.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Stu Bowie]

Rachel, I like the angle of the lions head, as if he's day dreaming. Your repost looks great especially the colours. Well done.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Stuart.

[Harshad Barve]

Rachel
This is sheer arrogance by Lion here , love the pose , details and BG , VWD , I have dared to re-post this , Let me know WDYT
TFS

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Harshad, your repost looks good but a little more orange than I remember his mane but it does pop more. May I ask what you did to the image?

Rachel

[Harshad Barve]

I do agree it looks orange but I thought this pops up one Arrogant Lion
Added contrast by 12 points , added RED 12 , Yellow 15 in color balance , Sharpened 35 , 0.3, 0

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Harshad.