Ellie in Light

[Matt Fragale]

Ellie is a young Lioness who was born with no tail. She lives at a big cat rescue in NC where some friends of mine volunteer regularly. She was part of a litter of 4. All of her brothers and sisters currently are at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Ellie was unwanted because of her lack of tail, but she is very happy with her family in NC. Shot outside, full sun ISO 400, f/8, 1/640 260mm on my 70 - 300mm.

I did some very light adjustments in LR then used Nik Silver Efex to do the B/W conversion. Wish I could say there was some crazy process to this one, but there's really not. Ellie is just an easy subject.

[denise ippolito]

Sweet story, sweet shot, sweet processing! I like the tight comp and the sharp eye.

[Matt Fragale]

Thanks very much :) I liked the original version of this photo well enough, but it was kind of boring (as much as a picture of a lion can be, anyway) so I never really thought much of it. I got the Nik plug ins last week so I've been experimenting with some of my existing photos and this one seemed a perfect candidate for this treatment. Also, Ellie is a beautiful girl, for sure. Very glad for having had the time to spend with her. I don't get to see her much anymore, since I moved to FL recently, but friends post pics of her all the time and she is getting bigger by the day, it seems.

[Dennis Bishop]

Absolutely great shot and processing. You deserve way more credit than Ellie for making this such a good image. The lack of transition from the background into the subject at the top of the image is very appealing.

[Brendan Dozier]

She's a beauty, Matt, nice conversion, and like the soft high-key look to this. Its great there are volunteers to take care of animals like her.

[Steve Adkins]

Great story and image, Matt. I like the B&W result a lot. She is beautiful!

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Matt, thanks for sharing this story. As for the image...I love it! Beautiful capture!

[Nancy Bell]

This is a great conversion to a B/W minimalist portrait! I would love to volunteer at such a place.

[Matt Fragale]

This is a great conversion to a B/W minimalist portrait! I would love to volunteer at such a place.

I was shocked to find out we had a big cat rescue so near to Charlotte. Who would think there were even big cats there that need rescuing? But there it is. Anyway, when I moved away to Florida, I thought 'aw, poo.... no hanging out with big cats for me anytime soon", but on a whim, I checked and there's actually another big cat rescue not far from here, which I will be trying to get involved with. So, if you're interested, take a look online! You might be surprised. It's pretty crazy, though. The fellow who works most closely with them at Susie's Pride (where Ellie lives) explained that you can never ever ever ever ever turn your back on them, even when they know you for years. If they think he's watching, they're generally pretty docile.... as soon as he turns his back, he looks like food and they will start stalking.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Really like the almost pencil like look to this! Nice job with the processing.

[Paul Lagasi]

Lovely processing, a beauty of a subject..big cats have always been one of my favourites...very well done