Dragged to safety

[Marc Mol]

5.15 pm, heavy cloud.

With the Ruaha NP- Tanzania, home to 10% of the entire population of lion, Cheetahs must waste no time in dragging the kill to cover and then eat as quickly as possible,
for the chance of another predator (especially lion) finding their kill is a high possibility.
This cheetah mum was doing all the right things to give her 3 cubs every chance to make it to adults. Would have preferred more DOF for the 2 FG cubs.:e3

Ruaha NP -Tanzania Oct, 2013.

D3s 500 f/4 VRII f/5.6 1/250s ISO800 Almost F/F. Selectively added a tad more light on the eyes here, being mindful not to over do it.

Cheers
Marc

[Morkel Erasmus]

Great sighting, timing and framing Marc. DOF came out nicely having at least one cub in focus with mum. Eyes look good too.
Only thing that I picked up on was a very slight cyan/green tinge in the cubs' fur particularly. Repost shows a VERY subtle adjustment by tweaking color balance in PS.

[Marc Mol]

Thanks Morkel, good pick up, I can see just it in the FG cubs tail tip.:bg3:

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Marc - Morkel beat me to it on the slight cyan, as you said most noticeable in the tail tips. Nice capture of all 4 and engaged with the kill. I agree with you about dof but not a big deal here. If it were mine I would look at darkening some of the highlights in the bg.

TFS,
Rachel

[Marc Mol]

Thanks Rachel


If it were mine I would look at darkening some of the highlights in the bg.

As it was heavily overcast, I deliberately lightened the BG to give the subjects some pop, so the BG higher dry grass is perhaps a little more brighter, but left as is. :w3

[Martin Dunn]

You captured a great moment Marc.
I love the wary look of the two LH cubs, so in tune with their mother's caution.
I'm pleased you resisted the temptation to add saturation to compensate for the overcast light.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Marc a good find and interesting image, what is the 'white dust' that seems to be clouding the kill and drifting off to the right? I feel you could have upped the ISO and retaining the DOF to allow yourself more SS and freezing more of the action, especially with the D3s and so the LH cub wasn't so soft. Not ideal as I'm using the laptop, (but back tomorrow), however I think I prefer the overall look & feel of the OP, the colours seem better, but removing the blue and reducing the Blacks/Contrast would certainly lift the image and so the shadow & darker areas are not so contrasty. Taking a mid grey point which is almost 50/50/50 you do get to where Morkel's RP is, but perhaps it's just a tad too yellow? If it was mine, I would certainly look to dropping both the Highlights & Whites and just darken the FG/BKG a tad as it sandwiches the action and give more focus IMHO, adds a bit more depth.

TFS
Steve

[Carl Walker]

Great capture Marc. Typical scene of cheetah mum and cubs with a kill and alert behaviour. The moderators are sharp with these casts. I can't see squat myself. Anyway I did a stint in Tanzania a while back but sadly I never got to the Ruaha and Selous NP's although I did try hard. So when I see your images I too yearn to get back there.

[Marc Mol]

Thanks Carl


I did a stint in Tanzania a while back but sadly I never got to the Ruaha and Selous NP's although I did try hard. So when I see your images I too yearn to get back there.

I'm off again to Ruaha (& Ndutu/Gnu calving) in 5 weeks time, so you'll just have to keep yearning.:wave:

[Morkel Erasmus]

I'm off again to Ruaha (& Ndutu/Gnu calving) in 5 weeks time, so you'll just have to keep yearning.:wave:

Marc, some reports coming in say that a great many wildebeest have stayed behind in the Mara due to the late unseasonal rains and expectations are that they remain there all year a la 1993. Hope some are already down there for you though...:Whoa!:

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Marc,
good capture of the behavior of the Cheetah, i think i can almost feel the fear or the feeling of being uncomfortable in the eyes of the youngsters.
Comp is nice ,it would have been better to get them all in focus, but technically not possible in this situation.What makes me puzzled , is the fact that the RH cheetah is less sharp than the antelope head ?It looks being closer to mum, than the antelope.

If you address the blues and go down with the yellows i think you are good to go on colors in the OP, Morkel made it too red for my taste, are you in a colorful mood at the moment ?

TFS Andreas

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Marc,

I am late to this spectacle. Everything has said already. I agree with Rachel on darkening the BG a bit.

Have a great day

Ciao
Anette

[Marc Mol]

Marc, some reports coming in say that a great many wildebeest have stayed behind in the Mara due to the late unseasonal rains and expectations are that they remain there all year a la 1993. Hope some are already down there for you though...:Whoa!:

Yes, have heard this but my contacts have seen plenty moving down enough to not worry too much, plus we have 5 weeks to go for the rest to join.:w3

It does look like another season of great weather variation and unseasonal conditions, as in Ruaha atm, it's been still very dry in parts with no quality rain.