London Zoo visit

[Iggy]

Thank you Mike for those suggestions.
I will try them in the next few days time permitting, or otherwise after Christmas. Will post the modified tiger on the forum.
More urgent, is getting something ready for the panel for the Master Competition, which can hopefully then be taken forward to the CCC Photo 2018!
Hot on the heels is is the Nature Competition to consider, where I probably would not enter the tiger!
Iggy

[Iggy]

Here is another attempt with subtle, selective sharpening of just the tiger and more natural colours compared with over the top sharpening of whole image.
Comments please.
Still playing around with the image. Will probably give it a few more goes using various YouTube suggestions.
Regards,
Iggy

[davidb]

The first picture looks much more natural although the greens are a bit bright for my taste.

The second shot looks much like your original post. is it?

[Mike Farley]

Hi Iggy

As David says, the first shot is the better of the two although I agree that the grass needs to be toned down. The second shot still looks over sharpened to me.

The other issue is that the tiger is in the shade, while the grass is lit by the sun. That results in the eye's attention being drawn from the tiger. If it were my image, I would tone down the grass, lighten the tiger and apply some vibrance. Finally I would add a vignette to direct the eye towards the subject. It would be a few simple adjustments in Lightroom.

[Iggy]

Thank you David & Mike.
The second image is the overworked one that is on page 1 which you have already seen, placed here again for easy comparison.
I agree with all your comments about grass colour, light and shade and more.

This time I used smart objects and masking to produce selected sharpening of the tiger but then brightened the whole image as I ran out of time that caused the grass problems. I did save the image before brightening.
So getting to grips on a few selected areas in PhotoShop via YouTube videos.

I am grateful for your comments.
I will have another go.
Iggy