Pilanesberg Cheetah Kill

[Rudi van den Heever]

I have suffered some severe critique on my previous post here of this sighting many moons ago, but I decided to give it another go...:bugeyed: After all.. it was one of my first attempts with some "proper gear" on one of my first trips as "a serious wildlife photographer"... How time flies, so here is the story...

We left Manyane gate in the Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa, at about 16H00 and decided to take the Dithabeneng route to have a look at the elephant carcass at Malatse Dam. My wife protested, as we've never seen anything worthwhile on the route - little did we know... We almost drove off after watching the cheetah resting under the tree for some 10 minutes, but eventually decided to sit and wait. After all, the gate was only 3 minutes away... After a while the wildebeests came out of the bush and the adults almost walked over the cheetah, but it did not move. They did not see what I was seeing through the lens - It only had eyes for the youngsters at the back! My mind rushed and I went through my camera settings over and over and over... What about this, what about that... 200mm... 400mm... f-stop, shutter speed and the bloody ISO... I did miss the cheetah's take-off!


I had to shoot some 250 images almost directly into the sun, but the fading light helped a bit later (until a park official requested us to call it a day).


What makes this image even more special, is the fact that at the time when this image was taken in August 2010, it was reported that there was only one cheetah left in the park! Only in 2013 reports came in of two other male cheetahs that joined in in a coalition of three and it is believed that they fled from the dangers of the neighboring farms and the ever persisting expansion of human settlements, to the safety of Pilanesberg and its natural food sources...


I eventually decided to attempt a monochrome conversion of this image... There are a lot of cons here (the subjects are moving away from me, the light was harsh, my camera settings were less than ideal and I had to crop this image by about 40%), but it still remains one of my favourite images to date, due to whole experience that made me commit to wildlife photography and conservation...


You can view the whole series of images on website at http://www.linruphotography.com/pilanesberg-cheetah-kill

As usual all crits and comments are welcome!

Gear: Canon 7D and 100-400mm l lens at 200mm, F5.6, 1/1000s and ISO 800:Whoa!:

[Jamie Douglas]

Hi Rudi, I can certainly understand and see why you are persevering with this sequence and choosing to revisit the file. This is the type of action we dream about when we first get our hands on "proper gear". I like the kicked up dust and almost collapsing wildebeast which appears to have been recently startled by the Cheetah.

My almost 3 years experience with the 7D has taught me that it doesn't like high contrast lighting conditions as the IQ seems to drop off rapidly even at manageable ISO settings.

As for feedback, I am no B&W expert but feel the balance in tones could be a little softer?

Hope the family is well buddy and you have recovered from your traumatic commute the other day.

Cheers

Jamie

[Douglas Bolt]

I, for one, would be exceedly happy to have such an image. You and Jamie have pointed out some of the issues.
I thought a slightly different crop might focus ones attention more on the subjects. Cropping from the left seemed to remove any visual escape. This is simply a clip from the OP.

[Marc Mol]

Having just seen your website, I think I prefer your colour version Rudi, as with this B&W there isn't much tonal variation.
Having said that it's indicative of an image that says never listen to your wife and always trust your own judgement.:bg3:

[edwardselfe]

Nice pic - the lighting was really working against you and there's not much you can do about that. I wonder if reducing local contrast (clarity) around the grasses might reduce the effect of the backlighting.....?

Ed