Problem Leopard Image

[Viseguy]

This shot in Tanzania about 8 years ago. I periodically return to my old pictures as I learn more about post processing, this is about the best I can do with image. I have a whole series of shots I took at the same siting. It was taken at dusk, in the woods, its backlit. Surprised the guide even saw it. I have what I think is a lighting aberration which is most clearly seen on branch to the right of subject, but this condition exists around the body of the subject as well. I've since gotten much better leopard pics, but this was my first, always wanting to improve these first siting images. Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks. I've done a denoise AI/RAW operation, dropped highlights and raised shadows in LR.

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[BarkingBeans Coffee]

Have you experimented with the new masking tools in Lightroom. Try that and just work the Leopard. They also have an Iris enhance mask that might really pop well here. Great shot btw. Do you know which Leopard this was?

 

[Viseguy]

Have you experimented with the new masking tools in Lightroom. Try that and just work the Leopard. They also have an Iris enhance mask that might really pop well here. Great shot btw. Do you know which Leopard this was?

I will look into the enhancements you mentioned. This was shot in Lake Manyara in 2015, it was a young Leopard, I do not know its name.

 

[BarkingBeans Coffee]

Masking tools video by Julianne Kost and she has lots more. I am blown away by these masking tools. So easy to select subject and then invert. And use the brush with the Iris enhance. I think you can make some great edits on the Leopard. Good luck.

 

[Viathelens]

If I were processing this in LrC, I'd do some general edits, black and white point then I'd pull both highlights and whites down as far as I could but still get brightness in the image. Then I'd most likely use the radial filter tool to make the area around the animal darker while using a masking layer to process the image further to make it brighter. One of the other things I've done with images that have a lot of light showing through leaves, like this one which is what I see around the animal, is open the image in PS and put in a background layer that softens and/or darkens the light coming through. I'd also delete, using the PS cloning tool, the bright spot on the trunk. And, I'd use the transform tool in LrC to make the subject bigger in the overall frame, thus removing some of the light coming through. That's my quick take on it. Good luck.

 

[Rassie]

I don’t think it’s so much of a lighting aberration on the branch to the right of the animal. It’s mostly just that it’s out of focus because in reality that branch points away from the animal towards the camera. It is clearly outside of the available depth of field. It is the closest to the camera of any other element in the picture, way outside of the focal plane.

 

[Anjin San]

Have you experimented with the new masking tools in Lightroom. Try that and just work the Leopard. They also have an Iris enhance mask that might really pop well here.

yep…I’ve discovered that selecting the subject and brining up the exposure or shadows a little then the backg or sky and taking the exposure down just a bit really helps make the subject pop.