Youthful cat

[LauraDyer]

Sorry I have been absent for so long!
I took this image at Kirkmans, late one evening. The leopard, a 2 year old male, who we had been searching for had popped up onto some flood debris form the Jan floods. He was in the riverbed, and we sat with him for the last 20 minutes or so of the day.

Needed a balance between ss and DOF so used f5, 1/160s and ISO400. Do not like to push much past this with my 7D, results are very varying camera to camera. I find my 2nd one handles 800 well, this one 400 and occasionally higher depending on the lighting.
Shot with the 300mm f2.8 lens and a 1.4 attached. it gave me just enough to include his paw nicely, I would say this is about 90% ff, i have taken some off the top and RHS for composition sake.

Was a magic sighting, a few minutes after this a hyena walked straight up to him and just stood and stared, they were nearly nose to nose with the young male hissing but essentially doing nothing. Crits and comments all are welcome, of course. Thanks! Will try keep more active :)

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Laura, nice to you back, glad you posted this one too.

Will hold fire with my thoughts, what to see what form of critique you get and advice given so will comment later. Regarding the 7D perhaps a conversation with Morel might be prudent, as he seems to get quite a bit out of it, as it's not a body I have ever used.

Talk soon
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Laura,
nice tight portrait of very relaxed looking cat. Image has nice depth cause of the paws that you included , makes it more interesting not just a plain head shot.

Lovely soft evening light ,the BG works very well.Just think this image can stand a bit more "oomph" , just my personal feeling.

I made a RP with reduced reds and yellows, and a bit more local contrast and sharpening, as always difficult to start with a low res file, so if it is not perfect forgive me , just to show what i think.

Andreas

[Stan Cunningham]

I like the shot and composition, sounds like a wonderful way to end the day.
I don't like anything over 500 on my 7D but have heard people that go up to 800, interesting comment on the difference in between bodies.
If it were mine I would clone out the twigs in the lower right and maybe the stick on the lower left but that's nit picky.
Andeas repost improved it IMHO, especially the sharpening.
If you never tried it, using the diamond sharpener in PS set very low on the catchlight on the eyes can have a great effect. But be careful not to overdo it.

[Andreas Liedmann]

using the diamond sharpener in PS set very low on the catchlight on the eyes can have a great effect

Hi Stan, can you clarify what is this sharpener never heard of it, maybe because i am using GERMAN PS.

Cheers Andreas

[Ken Watkins]

Laura,

The face of the Leopard is very fine but the bottom of the image is I find unhelpful. But I wonder if adding back whatever you took off the top and cropping just above the leg might work, obviously trying to avoid the "dreaded" square crop.

Other than that great light, great pose and sufficient sharpness for me:w3

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Laura, well Andreas & Stan have hit the buttons. As I said, Morkel is you man for the 7D, but think you could have increased the ISO and go to f/5.6 which would have been about right on this IMHO, but that is just a fraction more so no sweat, wouldn't think you needed more, as you have the DOF from nose to eyes and the BKG is diffused. Lovely light which has created a warmth to the image.

I think you can create a bit more depth in the image, not only with Levels, & Curves but creating some blending modes too, of the image and using Layers to build the picture. Reducing the reds & yellows in various amounts, yes, plus some additional selective sharpening, use the pop-up window to gauge the sharpening in PS. There are many ways to sharpen, you just need to find the one that works for you. I could easily suggest something, but it may not suit your workflow and is not a blanket app, each image will vary in some way and therefore you have to adjust accordingly. You could also add a little Contrast say 5-8, but I always worry it chokes the blacks in the shadow areas. Also removed the slight blue in the whites also in parts. Nice detail in the eyes, but try to avoid sharpening the whiskers too much. Crop works, if you lose anything it looks odd, but guess the BKG in parts was busy hence the tighter crop? You could if you wish remove the small stick on the LHS, just depends on how you feel about that.

This was my thinking as you know which also by chance takes into Andreas & Stan's thoughts, but this was prior to their comments. Probably more accurate if I wasn't working remotely, but you get the idea Laura from the various RP's.

BTW Take a look at Morkels sticky for Sharpening, it might help, found at the top of the Wildlife page.

Shout if you need help. :S3:

TFS
Steve

[LauraDyer]

Thanks so much for the advice all. I will have a go at it this eve and repost.. As for crop, the LHS and RHS lower third have sticks etc form the flood debris. When I post an image of the whole cat you will see.. I can go wider on the crop, just introduces more sticks is all... wanted to keep the focus on his lovely eyes late evening.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hey Steve,
you just beat me, i think. Like your RP a "tad" more than mine, nice job . Sooner or later i will get "YOU".

Cheers Andreas

[Marina Scarr]

Steve's repost works best for me so far. The capture now speaks to me which the OP didn't. Love all the find details around the chin and chest.

[Tom Graham]

Love Steve's repost. The sharpness especially looks perfect. The original had me blinking my eyes trying to clear them for clarity.
Tom

[LauraDyer]

117327

Ok- here is my first RP attempt, does this look any better? Struggle with CS4 a bit, dont know my way around it too well...

[Steve Kaluski]

Looking good Laura, certainly a big difference to the OP.

As I said to Sanjeev, the best way is just to play and explore to see what things do, ie moving sliders quite dramatically to see the effect, then you can go back and adjust things with a more gentle hand. Making adjustments by a few points may not be that easily visible, hence my suggestion. The whole Module of PS is designed to lead you through the right steps in the right order, especially in ACR or LR, just take things slowly and get to know the MAIN functions, that's all you need.

Although crudely done, I did take the liberty of removing the stick so you can see the options available to you.

BTW See if you can hook up with Grant, he could give you some good pointers to bolster your knowledge, but if you get stuck drop me a line.

Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

Great light here Laura - lovely portrait. Your repost has certainly taken the OP up a notch (and you had some good nudges from other reposts in between).
I find it interesting that you get such differing results from your 2 7D bodies?
I wrote up an extensive workflow for 7D files that I shared with some members here (don't have a copy with me), will ask them to send it onto you! :t3
I don't find any of the sticks in the OP distracting, the eyes have my attention!

Looking forward to more from your recent trips...I know there should be some white fluffy bears in there somewhere :5

[LauraDyer]

Thanks Steve, Morkel and everyone else for their input. The help and crit is always appreciated!

[Danny Laredo]

Stunning pose and eye contact.