The head turn

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Another portrait of the leopard we saw at the Shinde camp, Okavango Delta. Hope you like this.
7D II
500 f/4 II
1/400
f/6.3
ISO 800
Hand Held

[Ian Wilson]

Gorgeous pose and techs look good. A darker background would be nice but not easy to do in this case. I would remove the blades of grass from under the chin and whiskers as well as the two little bits of loose fibre on the back. Might as well remove the bit of dry grass bottom left corner while you are at it. Regards, Ian.

[haseeb badar]

Hello Sanjeev -- very beautiful portrait ! u have got it sharp enough considering u handheld the big lens with 1/400 of SS, again like the previous image the the snout looks brighter than the rest of the body and i would agree with the removal of grass blades below the chin.

I have tried to work on the image with the brightness part of the snout and the crop in lightroom. lets see what everyone has to say !

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Sanjeev, again, another nice image, love the look back and those massive whiskers.

I think both the OP & RP have merits, just personal choice. Taking the OP I might just tweak the Tint slider to the left to reduce the slight magenta cast and drop the overall Exp, somewhere between -0.10 to -0.30 (figures optional). The blades of grass are unfortunate, yes you could remove the majority for a cleaner look, however the one which intersects with the chin hairs could be an issue. Would like to see a bit more tonal depth in the face just to bring form back into it and define the features more. No idea how the new 7D performs, but again, personally I would like to have seen more SS. The sharpening looks fine in the OP, I think Haseeb may have pushed it a little too far and borders on the crunchy look, but remember, at this stage it's 'perceptual' sharpening.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Sanjeev - Another nice look at the leopard. My thoughts are the same as Steve's. Again, it's a little light/bright and I also see the bit of magenta. I'm fine with the blades of grass. Somewhere between the op and rp for me in terms of sharpening.

TFS,
Rachel

[Raymond Barlow]

Wonderful Portrait Sanjeev, I like your crop, composition, and pp, might have darkened the face just a little, as I like to keep things as close as possible to reality.
A few minor touch ups to the attached.

153702

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Thanks everyone. Appreciate your feedback and RPs. Agree on darkening the face a bit.

[Mike Poole]

A great pose and those eyes are seriously mesmerising. Beautiful!

I agree on the removal of the grass stalk under the chin, Raymond has done a good job, not the easiest with all the whiskers

A very nice effort

Mike

[Morkel Erasmus]

A stunning pose with the arch of the back/neck here, Doc!
I prefer Raymond's RP for tonality and brightness.