Walkabout

[Steve Kaluski]

More from this lovely young male leopard we had the please to shadow for most of the morning with hardly any contact from other vehicles.

The green foliage above the head is not ideal and yes I could remove it very easily, but it stays. In answer to your question Rachel, it was with Mike.

Thanks for swinging by and either viewing or commenting on the previous image.:wave:

Steve

Subject: Young male Leopard on walkabout (Panthera pardus)
Location: SA
Camera: Canon 1DX
Lens: 200-400f/4 with ext, 436mm
Exposure: 1/800s at f/5.6 ISO1600
Original format: Landscape, very slight crop.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like this one, the leopard and the surroundings fit in terms of tonality and brigtmness. I am just fine with the trees in the background and I like the way some grasses are obscuring parts of the leopard. Being more of a bird than mammal photographer I am sure you would expect me to say , "wish there was a slight head turn toward the camera", well I do! Having said that I think this is a fine image.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Steve - this young guy gave us lots of great moments and I like this one. He has a look of intensity as he gazes off in the distance. You threaded the needle to get the eye in the clear with all the grasses around. Colors look accurate for the early morning. I wonder if a bit more room below would be preferable for the virtual legs. The leaves were there so they would stay for me too.

TFS,
Rachel

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

I really like this Steve, just enough body visible to attract interest, I like the up-turned tail and the clear head with the eye nicely visible. I don't mind the grass above the head at all. Lovely image!

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks guys.

Jon, I wanted purely that 2D side profile which hopefully provides that 'shadowing' feel and where the subject is not distracted by your presence, conveyed often in that look to came, albeit also a curious one. Rachel I think lady luck was smiling that morning, within 15 minutes or so we tracked and found him, a great morning overall, although the outcome at the end was a little frustrating if I remember, but if it had come off... Cheers Sanjeev. :w3

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Steve great fading in and out of sharpness on this one , really love the transitions you produced in the field and darkroom .
Very nice tonality all around and detail /sharpness where it counts . Colors are looking close to a 10 :w3.

I am fine with the 2D feel of the frame . One thing has to go from RHS (tiny) :t3. If you have a bit more room for the dead flower would be great , or better said for the Leopard to move into .

TFS Andreas

[gail bisson]

This is really nice Steve.
I like the " lacy" feel to the grasses.
The clear eye with no obstruction is obviously what makes this a keeper and not one for the bin.
The subdued colors look great and I love the trees and the green in the BG. The little leaves above the head don't bother me at all and I would leave them in as well.
Lovely stalking pose and great POV. Looks like you were on the ground and not in a vehicle.
I would love a bit more room in front but lovely as is,
Gail

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Steve,

Looking at this lovely leopard image tonight I am tempted to try and do some PP work on my Rosetta:tinysmile_shy_t:, yet I fear it will never get close to this.

I must say I like the presence of the greens above, they give a certain depth to the image. Also the little flowers - you processed this carefully, paying so much attention to every little detail:) You seem to always make good choices about what to emphasise and what to leave out - which is why I like your work, it taught me to try and select the features most valuable to a scene and enhance them. It always looks effortless, something I aspire to achieve.

Just like Rachel, when viewing the first time I thought I wanted a tad more space for the virtual legs. On second thought (and I had plenty of time to think about it, since we found ourselves in the dark for some hours, load shedding) I am quite sure there is enough space. Perhaps the size of the green patch above creates an illusion that there isn't enough on the bottom, WDYT?

Lovely colours overall and tonality, sharpening is there where needs be and what a great relationship between the light within the image and colour of the subject, this certainly works for me and I enjoyed viewing, can I please have some more?


Warmest regards,

[Barry Southon]

Steve

An impressive image with the subject in its natural environment a pleasure to view.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Steve Kaluski]

Cheers Folks.

In relation to more room below, it's right on the cusp, any more and I mean more, tends to over balance the comp, albeit that would have to be added. However, perhaps taking a point from Gabriela's reply, taking a 16x9 crop, with less green above may offer a happier balance, but as we all know, the majority of crops can be oh so subjective and may look at that later. :S3:

Thanks again.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Barry, nice to see you venturing here, although I know your main love is Avian.

Let me know when you start posting, they are a great bunch in Avian and you will learn a lot, but if there is a specific question you have when posting, ask it, in that way you will get hopefully get key feedback amongst the rest of the replies, have fun. :wave:

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Steve

Love this moment of this special cat.

He really looks to be on a morning stroll through the tall grass. The focussed look and the slight up-curled tail makes you think that
he saw something that might interest him, needs further investigation..
Love the soft hand in PP, he still blends in well with habitat.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nice "shadowing" profile here Steve.
I'd consider dropping "green" channel/saturation on the subject - very slightly to my eyes. I am also wondering if it can stand a CW rotation for that BG line - the subject seems to be standing with shoulders high so it might not induce "leaning"?

[edwardselfe]

Nice low contrast effect - is there a slight green cast on the cat?
Ed

[Johan du Plooy]

You were very privileged to had the opportunity to take photos of this cat.
It is not as if you have time to compose photos.
Just be grateful for the moment.
Great photo and very nice memories.