[termy]

RSAF Airbus A330 MRTT '753'
(The one posted few weeks ago is '760')

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[aslyfox]

Female Leopard which had a cub found in the Serengeti near our camp

[ cub not in this photo ]

[RobG]

RSAF Airbus A330 MRTT '753'
(The one posted few weeks ago is '760')

The Airbus has two engines. That would be a KC135?

[aslyfox]

I believe this may be an impala and we found it in the western Serengeti

I like how you can see the effect of the natural lighting and the resulting shadowing

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[termy]

The Airbus has two engines. That would be a KC135?

geez, blind me.

Yes, that is a 135, not the A330.
(Same squadron though, i think).

Surprising though, as the 135s are supposedly already withdrawn from service.

[Franc]

Female Leopard found with cub in the Serengeti near our camp

lovely photo of a nice looking animal, but where is the cub?

[RobG]

geez, blind me.
Yes, that is a 135, not the A330. (Same squadron though, i think). Surprising though, as the 135s are supposedly already withdrawn from service.

The USAF is still operating lots of them, but there you go - the RSAF is still flying one!

[aslyfox]

lovely photo of a nice looking animal, but where is the cub?

not photographed with mother it was higher up on the cliff face

sorry about any confusion

[Franc]

sorry about any confusion

no problem

[Charlie Victor]

I believe this may be an impala and we found it in the western Serengeti

I like how you can see the effect of the natural lighting and the resulting shadowing

Yes, it is an impala with a really impressive set of horns! Nice shot. Thanks for sharing.
Best

[Erictator]

Almost forgot to Xpost from K-1 thread:

More of my new tenant

I am not the hawk you are looking for...(but THIS IS THE LENS YOU ARE LOOKING FOR SSGGEEZER!)

HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6ED DC AW ƒ/7.1 450.0 mm 1/200 iso2500

Why is it always the hardest feather to reach...

HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6ED DC AW ƒ/7.1 450.0 mm 1/200 iso2000

Defining imperious

HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6ED DC AW ƒ/7.1 450.0 mm 1/200 iso1600

[RobG]

More of my new tenant
I am not the hawk you are looking for...(but THIS IS THE LENS YOU ARE LOOKING FOR SSGGEEZER!)
Defining imperious

Wow! I'm amazed by the clarity of the images at such high ISO settings. Did you have to do a lot of noise reduction in post?
Particularly the first and third images are great demonstrations of both lens and camera.

[redpit]

Almost forgot to Xpost from K-1 thread:

More of my new tenant

I am not the hawk you are looking for...(but THIS IS THE LENS YOU ARE LOOKING FOR SSGGEEZER!)

HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6ED DC AW ƒ/7.1 450.0 mm 1/200 iso2500

Why is it always the hardest feather to reach...

HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6ED DC AW ƒ/7.1 450.0 mm 1/200 iso2000

Defining imperious

HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6ED DC AW ƒ/7.1 450.0 mm 1/200 iso1600

Great photos! Congratulations. The nice bokeh adds to the subject and the third one is my favourite pose!

[TroutHunterJohn]

Almost forgot to Xpost from K-1 thread:

More of my new tenant

I am not the hawk you are looking for...(but THIS IS THE LENS YOU ARE LOOKING FOR SSGGEEZER!)

HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6ED DC AW ƒ/7.1 450.0 mm 1/200 iso2500

Why is it always the hardest feather to reach...

HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6ED DC AW ƒ/7.1 450.0 mm 1/200 iso2000

Defining imperious

HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6ED DC AW ƒ/7.1 450.0 mm 1/200 iso1600

What kind of post processing, if any, did you use. Very nice quality

[Erictator]

Wow! I'm amazed by the clarity of the images at such high ISO settings. Did you have to do a lot of noise reduction in post?
Particularly the first and third images are great demonstrations of both lens and camera.

Thanks Rob! I didn't HAVE to do a lot of noise reduction, but I did some anyway.

They way I do it is a bit of a cheat so I don't loose detail in the subject, since noise doesn't really show as much in a busy detailed subject as much as in the bokeh.
I am still using an old copy of Photoshop CC15... Rather than applying detail killing noise reduction to the whole image in ACR, I leave as much detail as I can in the converted JPG, then edit the JPG the rest of the way in Photoshop.
I start by doing a magnetic lasso around the subject, which is easy when you are using a shallow DOF and the subject already pops. Then go to Select, Modify, Expand (I do 5 pixels) then I Invert the selection. Then, I'll go back to Select, Modify, Feather (I do 3 pixels) then, I do the Noise reduction tool in a very minimal setting, and try to leave just enough noise to look natural, kinda like film grain, because that makes me happy and doesn't look like "plastic".

That may sound like a lot of work to some people, but once you get comfortable, it goes super fast and is just a few clicks as part of the workflow.

In all honesty, I think I'm probably the only one who see's it because the grain is only visible at pixel peeping levels, not at posted sizes, but it makes me feel better to do it in case I print them some day. ( do this before I re-size, so my larger files are good to print)
Eric

Great photos! Congratulations. The nice bokeh adds to the subject and the third one is my favourite pose!

Thanks redpit! A giant tele zoom just shouldn't have nice bokeh like that... doesn't seem right, does it? Heh. Gotta love Pentax lens design. Quirky, in the right kinda way.
Eric

What kind of post processing, if any, did you use. Very nice quality

Thanks John! See my comment above for details on post processing for noise. Other than what I described above for noise, I also do a quick tweak to levels to get the contrast where I want it (I use levels instead of the brightness/contrast sliders, since I feel levels gives more control) and that's about it. I guess you could say I do pre-process the RAW's in ACR, but I usually just highlight the whole batch if shot in the same lighting, and do my bumps there. Since I shoot to expose for highlights with an Exposure Compensation of -.7, I usually have to bring the exposure and shadows up a tad, then knock down the highlights slider to keep them from going where I don't want.

These particular shots were done with fill flash, all except the first 3 pics posted. I was wondering if people noticed, heh.

Thanks again to all who commented,
Eric