Lion

[buddywoods]

I shot this lion last year at the Oklahoma City Zoo.

[ianbutty]

This is a great shot.  I really like the sharpness and detail in the lion's mane.  I am not normally a fan of featureless backgrounds with wildlife - a generally prefer to see some context, however in this case I make an exception and the black background really works.  Did you have to do that in post production, or was the light fall off at the Zoo sufficient to create it in camera?

[buddywoods]

Here is what it would look like without the black background.  I tried to remove the stick but I couldn't find a spot that matched well enough.  I used the radial filter at -2.0 exp. and feathering at 25 in lightroom.  I had to use the brush to fill in some spots.

[BigSkyKen]

I really like the original post, as it really gives the Lion more impact.  Not sure what image editor you use, but Photoshops "Content Aware Fill" does a pretty good job at eliminating things like that branch, and it is really easy to use.  I took the liberty of making a quick edit using that tool and just a tad of cloning for final clean up.
[attachimg=1]

[buddywoods]

Wow Ken,

Great job.  I have Lightroom 6.  When I try and do it in Lightroom I can't make it were it's not noticeable.

[BigSkyKen]

Buddy, I have LR CC, but I believe the Spot Removal tool works the same as your version.  Using that tool, I expanded the tool and clicked on the upper right corner where the circle is shown.  For some reason it wanted to replace that area with lion hair, so I dragged that circle over to the upper left greenery.  Then I increased the Feather from 0 to 46, with blended the selection in a bit better.  Hope this helps!

[BigSkyKen]

Here is the finished product after making the adjustments above.[attachimg=1]

[buddywoods]

Thanks, looks good!  Just tried it and it's the feather that I needed to do.  I have never moved the feather before.  Thanks!

[ianbutty]

As Ken said, content aware fill should remove the branch with no problems.  Clone or healing brush should work too, just make sure you use a soft brush to enable the new pixels to blend in.

What I find amazing however is how effective the cut out and move on to the black background is - doing a cut out round hair is one of the most difficult tasks in photoshop and you have nailed it!  I presume you used channel masking to do it?

[buddywoods]

As Ken said, content aware fill should remove the branch with no problems.  Clone or healing brush should work too, just make sure you use a soft brush to enable the new pixels to blend in.

What I find amazing however is how effective the cut out and move on to the black background is - doing a cut out round hair is one of the most difficult tasks in photoshop and you have nailed it!  I presume you used channel masking to do it?

Hi, I really don't know what channel masking is.  I've never seen it in Lightroom.  I used the radial filter at -2.0 exp. and feathering at 25 in lightroom.  I had to use the brush to fill in some spots.

[BigSkyKen]

That is cool, Buddy!  I never even thought to try that in LR.  Need to give it a go sometime soon, thanks!

[buddywoods]

That is cool, Buddy!  I never even thought to try that in LR.  Need to give it a go sometime soon, thanks!

The radial filter does good for vignetting.  I was planning on it being a vignette but seeing I only needed a little brush work to make it black I went ahead and did it.

For cutouts I try and use Serif PhotoPlus.  It does an okay job but it's a lot of work.

[ianbutty]

Hi, I really don't know what channel masking is.  I've never seen it in Lightroom.  I used the radial filter at -2.0 exp. and feathering at 25 in lightroom.  I had to use the brush to fill in some spots.

Channel masking is the one of the standard techniques in photoshop (not lightroom) for cutting out objects with hair.  It's a complex process involving selecting one of the channels, and using that to create a layer mask to cut out the object.  I've used the technique a few times but I'm not very good at getting it right.  If you want to know more this YouTube video I found shows the process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX4FaF6QNYM

[buddywoods]

Hi, I really don't know what channel masking is.  I've never seen it in Lightroom.  I used the radial filter at -2.0 exp. and feathering at 25 in lightroom.  I had to use the brush to fill in some spots.

Channel masking is the one of the standard techniques in photoshop (not lightroom) for cutting out objects with hair.  It's a complex process involving selecting one of the channels, and using that to create a layer mask to cut out the object.  I've used the technique a few times but I'm not very good at getting it right.  If you want to know more this YouTube video I found shows the process.

Thanks!

[ianbutty]

Looks like the YouTube embed tags have stopped working on the site - here's the direct link to the YouTube video I was trying to post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX4FaF6QNYM

[buddywoods]

Looks like the YouTube embed tags have stopped working on the site - here's the direct link to the YouTube video I was trying to post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX4FaF6QNYM

Thanks!