Cheetah after sundown

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

A high ISO cheetah image, taken at Timbavati Game Reserve. Light was super low and had to push the 5D III to its limit. We were happy to sight the only cheetah during that trip, they are pretty hard to find there I guess. Thought it fits the theme here.
1/125
f/2.8
ISO 6400
5D III
70-200 f/2.8 II L

[steve torna]

Hi Sanjeev, This image portrays the camo of this cat very well; I can see how it's colors are identical to it's environment. It is also interesting to see it's long lean, deep chested, physique. I remember reading a description of the cheetah's vertebral column; described as spring loaded. I can imagine that with this image and he does look "fast". I like the background and the very natural colors.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Sanjeev, I like the way you have capture the subject, 'a cheetah on a mission' - striding fourth. Nice you have the head clear and I like the side profile POV. I think you could have pushed the ISO even more, but there does appear to be some noise in the BKG so I would be tempted to run some NR just on the top. Not sure why you have some purple creeping in at the top, but I would suggest you explore pulling the Tint slider to the left and the Temp (not as much) to the right, I think this then improves the overall look, however it does not remove the purple.

TFS
Steve

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Sanjeev

Must have been nice to be so close to him while he was walking by at last light, I would like to think you could smell him...
This is my take on the image, felt there was too much dead space below, some might feel different. Found that the bit of purple sky was drawing my eye.
Just added a sat layer for Magentas and Reds.
WDYT?

[Steve Kaluski]

Sorry Andre, but the RP to me isn't that far off the OP in colour, to me it more fundamental, but lets see what Sanjeev thinks.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Sanjeev,

Just a humble thought: I would also try turn this into an arty B/W if it were mine, the movement/blur of the grasses would help bring out this cheetah and its spots beautifully, and no colour issues. I like your version too and would certainly want to see you follow Steve's suggestions with an RP, I just see a conversion working out as well.

Nice work, despite the low SS the cheetah looks sharp to me:w3

Kind regards,

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Sanjeev - Having been to the Timbavati multiple times I have yet to see a cheetah there. My understanding is that they have them pass through every so often but they do not stick around the area. I like the walking pose and it's sharp despite the movement and slow ss. I know there are areas of the Timbavati that have the red grasses at times but agree with Steve about the purple creeping in and there's also some purple on the chest of the cheetah. It's worth trying to fix.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Sanjeev, I'm back on the road again leaving early this morning, so here is my take as I won't have access to the main Macs only the laptop. I only tweaked the colour, added some NR and removed the branch on the RHS & vertical by the head

Steve

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Thanks Steve, the RP by you certainly improves the colours. I like the tweets and the image does POP more.Here is a crude attempt by me in B&W following Gaby's (I hope its OK if I call you that!) suggestion.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Sanjeev,

I like Steve's RP, a lot. I also like your B/W, although it needs a tad more pop IMO. Here's a rather extreme version you'll either like or hate. Ideally you'd go somewhere in-between, I was just playing around last night and came up with this rather contrasty look.

So happy to see you experiment, love it when you surprise us with something different, thank you Sanjeev:5

Kind regards,

[keith mitchell]

Sanjeev think Steves repost just adds that little bit of warmth that the image needed,really do like the striding out pose that you have captured.

Keith.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Sanjeev -- pretty late on this but i liked the way you have successfully captured the image in low light . i liked what steve has done win his RP and also Gabriela's B/W version looks good to me .

TFS !