Snowdonia? are you sure it wasn't the path to Mordor, it looks very dramatic.

I think it's a great image (as usual) the only slight niggle is the tree getting lost againt the hills, but it could be my work monitor - it's not the best.

MVG - Steve

Cheers Steve. I know what you mean about the tree. Light was on its last legs.

From the same session, a slightly mistier view. (click for full size)

Cracking shot Stuart.

Both great shots! I thought I would post the picture of mine that I am currently printing and framing.

__________________
Using a looper and a top makes for a much better furled leader!

Nice one Steve. Not your everyday subjects, and I'm guessing 'in the wild' too?

Yes, Sabi Sands, South Africa. The above shot was f8, 1/400th of a sec, 93mm focal length, ISO 200, distance to subject about 10-12 metres. Quite the posers. Here's another:

__________________
Using a looper and a top makes for a much better furled leader!

Cracking shots, Steve. Well executed, and a couple of lovely compositions too... the girl on the first shot couldn't have posed any better for you eh? Girls eh... they lav it Worth making the trip just for those two shots. Nice to see some quality work fteched back from 'Safari'... Some of the pish one has to sit through when auntie June and uncle Tony get their safari pics out Well done.

__________________
Too much Saturn, not enough Moon.

Buzzers 2012


Fly Clips & Stands

Cheers Rob. I was very pleased when this group decided to pose for 30 minutes or so on a termite mound. If I remember rightly, 3 mature females and about 5 cubs. Absolutely amazing! Very lucky to have been able to visit this part of the world.

Last one and I will stop boring you all. This one has a bit more editing for effect from me. It was torrential rain and I asked the driver what we were looking for. He said there had been reports of another leopard (we had seen one every day) in the area. I responded "like that one?" pointing to this guy sheltering under a bush about 8 feet to my left. I think he and the tracker felt a bit foolish...






BTW for those technical dudes interested in the toning here, these are (obviously) black and white shots that have been toned but the toning is done at the printer not in the master file. I have done the B&W conversion using the split channels method for ultimate control over the conversion. The "master file" is a pure B&W image (gray gamma 2.2). What you see here is in effect a softproof of the toning I do with my printer. I have an Epson large format printer and, in this case, printed using their "Advanced B&W" printing protocol. (It's not actually that advanced by B&W printing standards but it is as far as an in-built printer/driver solution.) Those familiar with printing using this Epson driver facility will know that they can instruct the driver to add a colour hue to their B&W image at printing. What I have done here is to profile that printed output with an ICC profile (by measuring the colours of a 51-step printed wedge). I can then convert my jpeg image from its greyscale gray gamma 2.2 workspace to this output colour space with the ICC profile and present the image as an "as printed" simulation.

Using these special ICC profiles also leads to a much better printed image for reasons that are too complicated to go into detail here. About 6-7 years ago I was very frustrated with the "flat" prints that were coming out of various B&W printing methods and thought there was a missing element to the process. To cut a long story short, a lot of late nights from me trying to demonstrate this and argue why it was the case led to a guy called called Roy Harrington packaging up what I was saying and adding his own brilliance into a simple piece of (shareware) profiling software for B&W output. The difference is remarkable. If you want more details, just PM me.

__________________
Using a looper and a top makes for a much better furled leader!

Steve, images such as that are top drawer, so please don't think they bore. Put as many of those up as you like. The natural framing and DOF in that shot is superb. Have you had to do some cloning on that shot? Very bottom, just in front of the midriff/back leg?

Cheers. No that's just OOF foreground. Image mostly had dodging and burning (if that wasn't already obvious).

__________________
Using a looper and a top makes for a much better furled leader!