Lion cub.(To tone map or not to tone map)

I'm leaning toward the non tone mapped version.

I don't know what tone mapping is but I'm leaning towards the second shot.

Elliot87 said:

I don't know what tone mapping is but I'm leaning towards the second shot.

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I call a 1 exposure HDR tone mapped because 1 exposure is not exactly a HDR image.

Blacktop said:

I call a 1 exposure HDR tone mapped because 1 exposure is not exactly a HDR image.

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Ah ok. So which is which here? It might be obvious but not to me. It does look like your Nikkor 70-300 is sharper than my Tamron at 300mm wide open. I never shoot mine there anymore because the results are much better stopped down and nearer to 250mm.

Looks the same to me too.... Me thinks the emperor has no clothes.

Highlights look more blown on the top one and there seems to be more of a blue green tint to them on my monitor.

FredKingston said:

Looks the same to me too.... Me thinks the emperor has no clothes.

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I'm sorry, I don't quite understand the "emperor" comment.

Elliot87 said:

Ah ok. So which is which here? It might be obvious but not to me. It does look like your Nikkor 70-300 is sharper than my Tamron at 300mm wide open. I never shoot mine there anymore because the results are much better stopped down and nearer to 250mm.

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The top one is the tone mapped version.

I like the color on the cats face in the first shot. Maybe you could use an inverse graduated density filter to tone down the hot spots on the cat and area it is resting on. A thought anyway.

I vote for number 2. The window looks a bit cleaner, lol.

Blacktop said:

I'm sorry, I don't quite understand the "emperor" comment.

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Old time children's story... The emperor was convinced that the NEW suit was gorgeous... the tailor made no suit...When he wore his new suit in the parade before the commoners everyone complimented him on his new beautiful suit because everyone was afraid to displease the Emperor... A small innocent child watched with glee... and blurted out..."The Emperor has no clothes."

It's become a common cliche when folks think they see something that isn't there... Don't take offense... I was just commenting because more than one person didn't see a difference between the two images you posted...

Looking at just the face of each I like the 1st one. Better contrast in it. The rest can be fixed.

Just looking at both the pictures, I perfer the 1st one, look's like it has a little more detail.

The second has more detail in the whites so i like the second.

Both! The face/head in the first one is better, but has blown out whites on the hind paws, whereas the second one doesn't.

I agree with @mikew and @jay_dean the whites are blown in the first one but head detail is better in the shadows.

Combine the two in PS.

2nd one for me - look at the feet in #1 - too blown out. Prefer tones of #2

I think the picture has enough details and contrast, so no tone mapping is necessary. I often use various types of tone mapping (e.g. Tonal Contrast or Pro Contrast/Dynamic in Nik Tools) to enhance dull and bland photos. Yours isn't dull at all.

I occasionally use tone-mapping in RT to pull detail but it doesn't work with all shots since it is applied all over the shot and often makes the background appear dirty/noisy.

Non.

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