Lullaby Leopard

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

A leopard rests on a tree at OD, Botswana. Went in for this close up to minimise distractions in the BG. Originally shot horizontal, cropped to vertical format. Wish the tip of the front paw was 'in' but no more room below. I liked how cozy he looked up on the tree branch as if its his pillow! Thought this fits the theme well. Thanks for looking and commenting.
1/1600
f/7.1
ISO 1600
5D III
700mm

[haseeb badar]

Hi Sanjeev -- Such a relaxed feel here ! leopard looks very cute here with its expression . certainly the the full paw would have been more appropriate but such things happen on the field with almost all of us . The sky between the leaves is quite a distracting element here and also that arched leave above the back of the Leopard is diverting the eye . TFS !

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Sanjeev,

You are a man of many leopards, LOL. Enjoyed this, very much!

Awesome "sleepy" shot and it makes me want to dash to the feathers too...it is rather late and I am tired, my "paws" will soon be "hanging" on the side of the bed as well, LOL. But before I do so, I have an idea: how about a crop just below the elbow, since the paw is not in anyway? Even a square crop works for me, less tree and less leg but then I could focus entirely on this Sleeping Beauty, without distractions:)

Love the big "perch", the BG not ideal but now another thought comes to mind: would you consider turning this into a B/W ?

This is one lovely leopard, image nice and sharp and the colours on the subject look good to me...don't you just love those whiskers resting on the bark of the big tree?

Keep them coming, Sanjeev! Not sure how many you have left, I hope enough to quench my thirst for leopards until I go back to the Kalahari and look for my Rosetta...

Nite Sanjeev, thank you so much for sharing,

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Sanjeev, not sure I want to get out of bed after viewing this :bg3:, a very content Leopard indeed and this image conveys the scene well.

The exposure looks spot on, especially being backlit, so well done. Likewise the techs and PP, overall very nicely done. The clipped paw is an issue as I feel my eye running down the 'draped' leg and would have liked to have seen the whole paw at the end, it's just so close, this is why (if time allows as here) you need to review that capture to avoid issues like this. Therefore, I might suggest trying a square crop working down from the top LH corner so you imply you deliberately trimmed the paw and made a conscious decission to do so, just a thought.

TFS
Steve

[Steve Kaluski]

the BG not ideal but now another thought comes to mind: would you consider turning this into a B/W ?

In going B/W do you think the OOF leaves etc would be less or more intrusive, more visible, stronger, dominant Gabriela???? If greater, would this be an advantage and enhance the image, or is the OP a better option in this instance????

WDYT :S3:

[Gabriela Plesea]

Steve, I am thinking the OOF leaves are somehow distracting because of the colour green against the bright BG. As much as I am trying to avoid doing so, my eyes tend to wander in that upper right corner. The B/W conversion would be an alternative to cloning, IMO. Any suggestion how to deal with this? I have some Wild Cat images from the KTP and the same issue comes up, therefore very interested in your opinion, thank you Steve.

Warmest regards,

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Sanjeev - As Steve said you exposed well for the leopard and that often results in a blown sky when the leopard is in the tree. The leopard does look content to sleep for a while. Unfortunately for me, the clipped paw is a deal breaker.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Any suggestion how to deal with this?

Without seeing the original Gabriela there could be a variety of options, however it's to what degree you feel you need to take things, but I might have double processed this to keep the integrity of both elements :S3:.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you Steve,

I never thought of this:tinysmile_shy_t:, whew, it will come in very handy when I revisit those wild cat images, exposed so well on the subject but the BG not great, so bright it burns the eyes and bits and bobs of vegetation here and there. Great, many thanks :cheers:

Warmest regards,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Sanjeev well this Leopard does look really relaxed even with human presence near by :wave:.
You have exposed / edited the subject and the tree well for my taste , in this frame you have extracted more form and detail from the whites/ lights as in previous postings ...... so you did very well with this.
But there are issues for me that cannot be addressed afterwards , just a feeling that the HL has been completely blown in the original , there is a spike in the histogram right at the HL end that goes right up to the top , meaning no data left .

So there for ,there is no chance for double processing from my POV ,at least you have to have a tiny bit of data left in the green or blue channel to make something out of it .
You have that blue " haloing " or blue bleeding around the leaves and branches that is quite typical for this kind of scenario , which i would remove in this case .
And you have lost most of the fine hair/fur on the high contrast edges Leopard /sky , this would be an issue for me too .
Well i am saying this all from my POV , not saying i am completely right with my observations :w3.
At last i would agree with Rachel regarding the cut off paw , maybe tighter crop could work and loose also the leg in the BG .

But all well worth a try , TFS Andreas

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Sanjeev

My heart bleeds to see this...
The Cat, well processed, lots of detail, relaxed pose, but the image is burdened with blown BG and too much lens.
Steve's suggestion re crop might work, you still have the BG..
What metering mode did you use?
Did you check for "blinkies" and/or the Histogram on the camera?
Did you Change your EV settings?
I have done this many a times, now I use many different settings on site- once you leave, you can not have that moment again.
Beware if you shoot up at a subject, and if you have the time, make it a habit to check, check, check and check again!
Adjust settings, let your eye run to each corner of the view finder, we tend to place all our attention on the focal point.(amputated tails, limbs etc--we are ruthless!:Whoa!:)
Rotate the camera, change angle, if you can.
Change lens if you can- this image would be something totally different with the 500, or even 300.
I presume you had the time as the cat was sleeping.
I had this obsession to get portraits- biggest lens and as close as possible (still have it, but fighting it), but sometimes one has to stand back a bit and re-asses the scenario.
Take MANY images of your subject, but NOT all with the same settings!
I have learned on this forum the get it right in Camera, I seldom do, but I keep on trying..
Hope this makes it less painful, as long as we learn our errors..