Leopard Mom with Kill

[Rachel Hollander]

Another leopard image from the Timbavati Game Reserve. This time the mother took her turn with the impala kill up in the tree and chose to reposition the carcass before chowing down.

Canon 5D3
70-200 II @ 123mm
1/320
f7.1
ISO 800
EC +.67
HH from safari vehicle, very slight crop from rhs to make branch the edge, luminosity mask, levels, curves, selective color adjustments, selective dodging and burning, sharpened in CS5.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

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[Jamie Douglas]

Hi Rachel, I am not sure if the image actually needs the RHS area that you cropped out. I can see how you wanted to use the branch to frame it and I'll assume there was just sky behind the tree branch, but I I feel IMO that it's just a bit tight on the RHS. In saying that though, because of the content, my eyes are drawn more towards the centre of the image. I would need to see FF to make a better call.

Nice PP work and you certainly had a great up close experience with this leopard.

Jamie

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, well exposed and nicely processed!

I agree with Jamie that the crop is rather tight on the RHS and for me, there is too much on the LHS. As it stands I would crop just after the leaves that are almost parallel with her eyes and a wee bit off the top too. I think just a few tweaks in the crop and you are there. You certainly have a very nice sequence of images with this Lady.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Jamie and Steve. The crop from the rhs was only the smallest sliver where sky/leaves peaked through on the right of the vertical branch so not worth posting the ff image. I'll take a look at the crop suggested by Steve.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

You used this opportunity well! I agree with the above comments, would like to see your repost after Steve's crop or similar is implemented.
Leopard could go a tad brighter overall for my tastes?

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks guys, here's a repost with the crop suggested by Steve.

[Steve Kaluski]

You could go even tighter at the top, but I quite like the leaf canopy. Plus 8 on brightness could work as Morkel suggests, % is just my take, but be selective as you don't want to burn out any whites.

[Rachel Hollander]

I tried it but did not like it brighter, sorry. Instead, I burned the edges slightly and preferred that.