A Leopard & His Tree House

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

A leopard climbs a tree which has a large gaping hole and uses this as a look-out post. The old tree trunk had so much character and I can imagine why this spot/tree was the leopards favourite hide out! At one point he had his head sticking out of one end and the tail from the other side. What a lovely sighting that was! Image made at the Okavango.
5D III
100-400 II @ 400mm
1/500
f/6.3
ISO 800

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Sanjeev, can you do me a favour please, sharpen ALL of the tree & leopard to your normal setting, or as presented here, but not the dark hollow or nice golden BKG, then RP.

Thanks

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Sanjeev - Fantastic sighting. Love the way the sun is hitting the face. I agree with Steve on not sharpening the back of the hollow of the tree or the bg. However, at f6.3 I would expect more of the tree to be in focus, particularly the area under the head that appears to be in the same plane as the sharp leopard. So I would sharpen that area which I don't think you did in this post. I do find the sky coming through the gap in the rear of the tree to be drawing the eye a bit. I can see an alternate crop eliminating it which would have the added bonus of having the leopard in a nice upper third position in the frame.

TFS,
Rachel

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Thanks Steve and Rachel. I only sharpened the leopard, not the hollow or any part of the tree. I shall make a RP as per Steve's suggestion. Rachel, yes an alternative crop is possible as I do have space to the left. Will re work on it.

[keith mitchell]

Sanjeev agree with Rachel re the gap in the tree even though it may be the fact it was pointed out, great gaze and intensity from the Leopard, think it's tree hide is great.

Keith.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Sanjeev,

Another special sighting of a beautiful leopard and I like the way he is nested in the hollow of the tree, scanning its surroundings.

You had some awesome opportunities and surely you have learnt some valuable lessons - less in the field perhaps, but plenty when you sat down in front of your computer at home and looked at your frames. In retrospective Sanjeev, I am interested to know what would you change here in terms of your camera settings, and why?
Love what you captured here, well framed and the leopard stands out beautifully against the darkness of the bark:cheers:

Kind regards,

[Daniel Cadieux]

I love the leopard's hangout, and the light hitting the face in just the right spots. The white in that top gap does draw the eye - it's not the gap itself (which I like) but rather the bright white seeping through. Bummer it was not a darker grey as just above the golden BG.

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Sanjeev,

great sighting of this leopard, also that he just looks out of it's 'cave'. I agree with the others on the gap with the 'blown' out sky in the BG. I might would turn down a tad the HL in the tree trunk underneath the animal as well.

Have a great day

Ciao Anette

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nice setting and sighting here, Doc.
I do agree with the comments on sharpening and exposure corrections, and fully agree with Rachel that cropping to remove the sky above the cat will improve the overall composition here...

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Dear Steve,
Here is the RP as per your suggestion. The face was a tad over exposed and the image has a very slight blur (maybe 1/2 pixel) on 100% view in RAW. Tried to salvage it. I should have upped the SS in the field. Thanks folks for your comments. Always appreciate it. Also toned down the brightness of the gap above the leopard.

[Steve Kaluski]

I should have upped the SS in the field.

You have answered your own question and nothing to lose, RP is far better IMHO.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Sanjeev stunning peek-a boo Leopard .
This is somehow a special image !! I really like this .
From my POV the gap in the hollow has to go and i would drop the exp selectively in the HL and 1/4 tones .

TFS Andreas

[Mark Needham]

Lovely leopard shot here - you keep them coming! :S3: I would be curious to see a more pano orientation where you crop out the gap in the tree above and also some of the tree below. Not saying this will be the right thing to do in the end, but would be curious to see how it looks.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Sanjeev -- Excellent image ! You have got some excellent suggestions and the crop idea by Rachel should take this up a notch . BTW do you have that frame as mentioned in your intro abt the head peeping out from one end and the tail from the other end . would love to see that image .

TFS !