Compare and CC please :)

[JeffieLove]

This is all the same shot... just some different PP done. I just want to see which you all think is better... or if there is another way I should do what I'm doing, or if there is a better way to do the PP on this in general...

The story behind this photo and why I am trying to get the effect I am going for:

This is Ashley. She is in a local zoo here. She is 19 years old and tigers are only expected to live 18-20 years in captivity. I would like to be able to show this picture to the zoo and see if they would like to use it when Ashley passes.

(If you need any of the shots bigger so you can play with them in PP yourself, let me know)
Original:

Edit 1: I have already been told that the lighting effect filter on this from PSE8 sucks... That is all I did to this one.

Edit 2: I fixed the lighting effect filer in this and also added some saturation and contrast. It was mentioned in comments on Flickr that the colors in the first edit were too "muted". So I played around with the light effect filter and got rid of that blown out highlight on her paw...

 

[scorpion_tyr]

I think the third one works best. It's the only one that really brings out the orange in the tiger's coat. If you could get rid of the dark edges in the 3rd, it'd be a lot better.

 

[mdtusz]

If you cut down on the vignette in the second one, it would be the best. I personally hate oversaturated colours, and if this is going to be a picture *hopefully* used when the tiger passses, it would be better to have a sombre feel to it I think.

What I would do to the original is add a very faint vignette and boost the intensity but leave it slightly unsaturated as is. Also, a bit of sharpening on the eye area just to direct the viewers eyes and make it clearer what's what.

 

[pilotgirl2007]

I really like the last one, but I do agree that the dark edges are just a little too dark. They do a great job of drawing the eye into the face of the tiger though.

 

[white]

I think the vignette is too extreme in both edits. The second one has a sharp cut-off on his arm; how anyone could miss that is beyond me.

Maybe less is more here. The unedited version isn't that bad, but if you must edit, then I suggest finding a color saturation somewhere between #1 and #3, and using a very faint vignette.

 

[Dude]

Original looks the best

 

[Dominantly]

I like the watermark in the second one.




First- Tight crop. I see what looks like an OOF wire or something going across the face of the tiger, because of which I see your desire to darken the border (even though it's still noticeable in the third).

I would have liked to see more face, ideally an eye, and a clear/obstruction free view. I have looked back and forth and can't decide on which color saturation level I prefer, so I wont comment on that.

 

[JeffieLove]

hahahaha!!! Thanks Dom lol

 

[JeffieLove]

Because of how old the tiger is, it was hard to catch her awake. So I made the best of the shots I could get with her sleeping and I also zoomed in as far as I could to try and avoid having the line from the fencing in the way... I did get a good tip from someone on another forum for the next time I go to this zoo and try to photograph the tiger.

I would also like to be able to get a shot of her playing or at least looking at the camera, but the zookeepers told me I was unlikely to get it due to her age...

Definitely worth a shot though We will be spending a lot of time at this zoo in the very near future No worries lol