Obligatory zoo trip meerkat photo

[ed_o_brain]

View large on black

Main question here: Is the PP overdone?


In terms of framing, it's a shame s/he is missing his/her tail.

 

[ed_o_brain]

Here is the original:

(JPEG with simple conversion from raw, no levels tweaked)

1/800th of a second, f/4.5, 180mm with a £99 Sigma 70-300/f4.5-5.6 on my D90

Post processing includes:
Boost to brightness, saturation, vibrance, clarity, contrast, WB, blacks in PSE8 RAW Conversion
Added overlay layer with opacity 20%
Sharpened with PSE8 sharpening tool
Then added hi-pass filter for a little bit more (radius 1.8 pixels)
Reduced highlights by about ten per cent

Added vignetting - I'm not 100% happy with the way the selection was feathered - I've noticed that when I feather by 250 pixels, I sometimes can see clear distinct lines around the circumference of the selection like contour l lines on a map where the 'opacity' of the selection changes. When viewed large, these are still viewable in the background, especially on the top right.

 

[AnnaV]

I really think the PP is great, well done.

 

[CJS]

A bit of a transformation, before and after . . . I like it in the large size, if I'm picky, I wonder about the point of focus, the front leg looks pin sharp, the eye, just a tad off???

An encouragement for me, I have the same lens, with HSM and APO, is yours the same model? I have not used it for . . . 12 months at least?

 

[ed_o_brain]

Thank you.
Yes.. I was wondering if the eye could to with a tad more sharpening!