Coming Out of the Dark

[Rachel Hollander]

Another experiment for me. This time was a more arty conversion and image. This is a then 7 month old female leopard cub who had been dining on a duiker kill courtesy of her mom. Unfortunately for us, the kill was in thicker brush at the base of a tree. Here as she emerged some dappled light her face and I decided to try to emphasize the highlights and contrast them with deeper blacks as well. Like with my other similar leopard image I posted from another sighting a while back, I know this won't be everyone's cuppa.

Canon 7D
300 II
1/800
f5.6
ISO 1600
Monopod in safari vehicle, ff, converted in Silver Efex, levels, curves, selective burning, cloned a couple of highlighted grass strands, sharpened in CCPS.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Mike Herdman]

Very Nice! I am not a big fan of Mono/B-W but this one is really nice...the eyes are really nice and the lighting is really great...especially how it is on the face.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

I like the eyes here Rachel, the B&W seems to work well here, wish there was a bit more space on the right.

[Mark Needham]

Nice work, Rachel; I like it! I might suggest playing around a bit more by lightening the whites a bit, especially around the nose / mouth. I would also darken that highlight to the left of its left ear and a couple of the other highlights near the edge of the frame. Such an adorable cub. In 10 years of visiting Africa, I have yet to see leopard cubs or cheetah cubs - maybe next year :tinysmile_shy_t:

[Gabriela Plesea]

You know I like this Rachel, and I like it because you carefully processed here not allowing the temptation to lighten anything too much.

This image truly emphasises the elusive nature of the leopard. The subject barely peeps through, but there's one lovely sun beam to light up her face and the effect is one of mystery, of anticipation.

A bit of that Rachel magic here and I love it, if I may put it simply : "my cuppa"

Warmest regards,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel you created some stunning eyes with that beam of light .Superb detail in the lighter parts, conversion works for me .Agree with Sanjeev a bit more space on RHS would be good .
There are two areas that kind of distracting my eyes , the OOF stuff in LLC (could be darkened more ) and the LRC (likewise).

Just my 2 cents :S3:. But a good idea to go that path .

TFS Andreas

[Nancy Bell]

This experiment turned out very well. For me the specialness is the intensity of the eyes and those well-defined whiskers, all which catch the bit of light coming through. I like that some of the details of the bkgd are just visible. Something different catches everyone's eyes and for me that long pale streak that seems to extend the whiskers on our left distracts from the important whiskers. And maybe a small crop from the top, just below your name. This seems to add more attention to the face.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions. I'll play around with it a bit.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Rachel, very cool image with excellent sharpness and details. For my personal preference, I think the image is a little bit on the dark side. I'd also like to suggest consider a color version depending on the quality of the light thru that shaft of beam. It could be very nice. Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, good to see stretching your legs on this one, wish the access allowed us to share the sighting with Dumay too.

My only input would be a little more light in the mid tones, it's quite dark overall, plus you then obviously have you whites/highlights, but I think there are some areas that just need lifting, or rather reducing the amount of darkness. Knowing the shot I think it might be worth exploring if you have the time, but just my take. :w3

TFS
Steve

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Rachel, its always great to 'test' the waters, and I like this lots. The dappled light was cast nicely over the face, and those whiskers really pop too. I can a version coming up from the bottom to eliminate the front leg. Scrolling the page will give you the idea. :w3

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Loi, Steve and Stu for the comments and suggestions. As always, much appreciated.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Steve Maxson]

What striking eyes and interesting lighting! This has the look of a nighttime shot with a full moon lighting the face. Very nice work!

[Morkel Erasmus]

I really like this, Rachel.
I'd go brighter on the midtones and higlights on the cub, though, and lose the fleck of mid-grey in front of its face for a more fine art presentation?