Monochrome King

Gallery: WildlifePosted April 8, 201290 views3 comments

I am trying my hand at monochrome images. Here I took an image from our recent Kgalagadi trip and converted it in Silver Efex pro. As the lion was right next to the vehicle this is a full frame shot.

I would appreciate your comments and suggestions.

Canon 1D MKIV
Canon 500mm f/4.0
1/800
F/4.0
ISO 320

Comments

3 comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on April 11, 2012 at 8:39 AM

Hi Neal,

I quite like the facial expression here - really leaves me wondering what's going through this cat's head. I always find it difficult to judge the success of a B&W conversion without seeing the colour version too (the raw material). That being said, my first thought is that the facial region needs a little more mid-tone contrast (at least pulling the darks/blacks down a little more). And, if this were mine, I'd probably pull down the exposure of the specular highlights in the lower left corner - they did grab at my eye...

Cheers...thanks for sharing this...

Brad

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

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on April 12, 2012 at 4:26 PM

Nice detail and expression here Neal. I concur wholeheartedly with Brad's thoughts. I try to get as much tonal range as possible in my monochrome images - deep blacks and bright whites with enough grey midtones in between.

Registered on March 22, 2011, 385 Posts, 2068 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on April 15, 2012 at 9:59 AM

He makes a great subject for a close portrait. My thoughts on the technical aspects match Brad's, exactly.

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments