Dig In...

[Andre Pretorius]

Image taken on last trip to Kalahari, second sitting of springbok meal.
Difficult conditions to capture this image (mostly due to fellow humans..)
Stunning moment, but have some problems with capture- not saying anything, please crit hard.

Love the unsheathed nails..
Grass was even GREENER, did desat on greens:eek3:

Nikon D3S with 500F4
1/1600 @ f7,1
ISO 2000
+0,3EV
Not to gory--I think

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Andre - I think you are too hard on yourself and that this looks very good. Love the way the claw is showing and the low pov. The low pov certainly isn't easy from a vehicle especially with others getting in your way. Ideally the branch would not be blocking the bok's hoof but nothing you could do about. Not a very flattering angle on the bok but again nothing you could do.

TFS,
Rachel

[Glennie Passier]

Love the claws and especially the one finding it's way into the beasts flesh for a better grip. A fly on the other leg of the springbok is a bonus! Low angle certainly works. The grass is very green, but doesn't bother me.

He/she has that dreamy sort of look in the eye. A very intent and content cat.

Thank you!

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Dear Andre, this is a solid image with great content and action. I like the claws and the feeding behavior. Colors look good to me.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Andre -- A wonderful sight with that claws unleashed ! I like the the sharpness and colours also the low angle you achieved is good .
I would like to crop from the RHS upto the plant to make it even tighter . Something like this . WDYT ?
TFS !

[Carl Walker]

Bwana Andre. Been a while I know. Nice shot. Think the title says it all and you portray it well here. Just wandering why you felt the need to work on the greens if the grass did in fact seem greener. I took it to PS, worked on the colours and the subjects seemed to stand out a little better. Might be a bit much! WDYT!!

[Morkel Erasmus]

Intense sighting, you know how I would love a Kalahari leopard sighting like this.
Sorry to hear about how inconsiderate others were - that's not the Kalahari we've come to know and love, but I guess as the popularity grows so the character of those who visit drops.

Anyway, love the claw and the low angle here. The green grass is a nice indicator of the recent rains.
I like what Carl did but would back down on grass vibrance/saturation.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very eye catching image with those claws being unsheathed, I like the frame and the colours.

[Marc Mol]

The grabbing paws/claws with good eye contact really make this image work here Andre, Carl's RP with just a touch more vibrance suits nicely as well.

TFS

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Everyone

Thank you for comments and suggestions and RP's!
Had a look again at the RAW- image was in shade and flat. After acquiring the grey point I warmed the up the image to 4500K. The greens quite dominant in image and Histogram, decided
to reduce. Original crop had complete tail in on RHS of image, more greens(grass) in image.
Would have liked to even crop tighter, but I do not think IQ stands up to 70% crop- no time to put on the converter..
Haseeb, your crop works well.
Carl, the grass in closer to what it has been there, but the subject and his prey is becoming a bit crunchy..think he prefers his meat to be softer!:t3

[Carl Walker]

No worries but i didn't sharpen anything:2eyes2:

[Basil Dardagan]

Looks a difficult and challenging combination to get right (green,shade,crop etc) Ditto the claws - they make the image imho

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andre, nice sighting, looks like this has provided a meal for some days.

Like the POV here and the exposed claw illustrates the powerful grip. The expression and eyes are similar to my lion shot and shows like us humans, they do close or half close their eyes at times as the tuck in. Personally I think a frame further on with more of the face/mouth visible may/would have been better. The greens are your choice, but I might added a tad more exposure at the foot of the image for a bit more depth. Like the empty rib cage.

TFS
Steve