I'm watching you

Gallery: Man & FaunaPosted January 5, 2016203 views6 comments

Schönbrunn Zoo, Vienna, April 2015. It was a muggy overcast day and, perhaps because of the flat "sick" light, I've had a hard time getting what I think is the right color for a cheetah. I also toyed with b&w, and am posting one of the versions below. All comments/suggestions/preferences are welcome!!

OM Zuiko 100 mm f2.8 MF lens at f/8 or f/11 (more or less), Olympus OM-D EM-5, ISO 500, 1/125 sec, handheld, manual focus peaking "hack" on first generation EM-5, now it comes standard.

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Alberto Patiño on January 5, 2016 at 11:34 PM

And here goes B&W. In the B&W version I brought up his right eye just a bit, as otherwise you could barely see it.

Registered on December 2, 2014, 278 Posts, 1736 Comments

Comment posted by Cay-Uwe Kulzer on January 6, 2016 at 2:31 AM

Alberto,

this is a very nice portrait and I like that you were able to get a low angle of photography. It is alos nice to see the eyes of the cheetah which in wild are often difficult to get since they are deeper in the skull as in other cats. That is because cheetahs hunt at day and need the eyes protected against sunlight. The colors look a bit saturated but still fine.

Technically very well done, good sharpness, good choice of depth of field and exposure is also fine.

I prefer the color version since I think that for black & white there is not enough contrast, something that is required for it. I also find that the spots at the background get more distracting since they are too bright.

Registered on January 27, 2004, 494 Posts, 4021 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on January 6, 2016 at 9:20 AM

A very nice portrait, Alberto. I agree with Cay-Uwe that it's a touch oversaturated. In the B&W version the bg, which has a tonality very similar to that of the cat, becomes much more intrusive to me, so I prefer the color version.

devil

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Marella on January 6, 2016 at 1:40 PM

Beautiful portrait, Alberto. Excellent focus on the eyes and great depth. Maybe pull the reds or yellows back a bit. Much prefer the color version.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 142 Posts, 862 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on January 8, 2016 at 4:05 PM

I would say drop the saturation overall about 15%, brighten up the right eye a bit and let 'er rip! Good low angle portrait and excellent detail.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on January 9, 2016 at 3:12 PM

Hi Alberto,

Very nice kitty...you do seem to have quite the passion for cats!

My preference lies with the colour version vs. the current rendering of the B&W version. I do think there is good potential for a B&W conversion here, and the first thing I'd experiment with is lightening (not darkening) the greens.

While I agree that overall saturation seems a bit high, I think pulling the reds down MORE than all the other colours would work nicely. Another minor (and easily remedied) technical issue is that I think the sharpening has been pushed a little too far...(at least as viewed on my monitors...and I've checked a few different ones(.

Cheers...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments