Lick it up

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Another rare moment captured of this very young leopard cub at Timbavati. That little tongue, the blood stained paw and face, and eye level view made this for me. The challenges were:

Light was fading fast
Did not want to push the ISO beyond 3200 (in hind sight should have tried 6400)
A very slight motion blur due to licking behaviour
Habitat issues

Despite all these, the joy of watching the little one go about its clean up job was amusing.
1/320
f/4
ISO 3200
5D III
500 II

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Forgot to add theme prefix. Kindly add it. Thanks.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Sanjeev -- A very cute moment , the impact of high iso and low light is evident in the IQ but very nicely handled . I find the tongue quite red , might be due to the blood i guess .
If you had some more space to the RHS then cropping more of the image from the LHS and at the same time providing some space to the left could be another option to explore.

TFS !

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Sanjeev - I added the prefix for you. Definite high cuteness factor here and at least the face is in the clear of the grasses. Definitely one worth keeping despite the issues.

TFS,
Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Sanjeev what a cutie , and the behaviour shot is working very fine here .
The only real issue i see here is the missing fine detail , i am happy with the surroundings .
I am with you regarding being a great moment :wave:

TFS Andreas

[Nancy Bell]

Totally adorable! I would consider toning down the bright spots in the wood elements in the bkgd, or maybe cropping down from the top some. Since the cub is looking down the top can be more narrow than the bottom.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Sanjeev, in moments like this it's often more rewarding to sit and just watch than to shoot.

Certainly cropping more off the LHS would help, agree on pushing that ISO in the future, however a bit more processing and this would still be a keeper, just a bit better overall in terms of IQ. I think you got a lot more out of this trip :S3:.

TFS
Steve

[Gabriela Plesea]

What a sweetie, Sanjeev:)

I shall not repeat the above comments, just wanted to say I love the moment you captured and I believe you can do lots more with this image. Certainly not an easy task and some meticulous work involved.

Since this is so special and truly a rare sighting, I would employ whatever means and skills I got to make the best of it, therefore I would not shy away from using the clone tool and healing brush, etc...

I did not attempt an RP, I guess it would take me the whole evening (trying this and that and seeing what works). Here's how I would crop it, my idea is to put emphasis on the cub and lose that grassy patch on the LHS.

Awesome trip, Sanjeev - cannot believe how many wonderful moments you had in a relatively short period of time!

And thank you so much for sharing!

Kind regards,

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Sanjeev, thanks for the file.

And so, the first issue is, the RAW isn't sharp and this could be down to lack of SS and or slight movement. I would strongly suggest you use 'Back button Focus', it's great, fast and a lot easier. Very simple to set up and as Rachel has the 5D I'm sure she can tell you how to do this, but 'Just do it'.

The rest in PP is just simple tweaks within the development module within either LR or ACR, if you use DPP the speak to Andreas. The majority is then just using Curves & layers to address highlights, Midtones, and Dark tones. Just wanted to show you - all isn't lost. Keeping a high SS is the way to go in my book, but obviously not over board, I'll post an ISO12800 for you later. Anyone who shoots really low is asking for trouble unless on a tripod, rock steady or has a very good technique. If it is low and I am shooting at low SS then my hold body posture changes, plus if you are in a vehicle you MUST communicate to others, 'please can you stop moving for a few seconds' as this is a key factor in reducing any additional vibration or movement.

Hope this helps.

Steve

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Thanks a ton Steve. I 'always' use back button focus. I have been using it since the last 2-3 years and have not looked back. I love it. Agree on the SS and stability issues here and I shall keep it in mind in future. I use DPP and PS. Guess I must give LR a try again. Your words always help Steve. Appreciate it a lot.