Moments of Weariness

[Gabriela Plesea]

I fondly remember this lovely afternoon spent with Andre and Carl, we felt truly privileged to enjoy the company of a cheetah and her cubs and the little ones were delightful. They were all so relaxed with us, it almost felt as if we were part of the family...

Here's Mom taking a break after a hot and weary day. She chose a spot in semi-shade and relaxed a little, keeping an eye on the little ones and from time to time scanning the surroundings.

Nikon D4
Nikon 500 F4
ISO 6400
F6.3
1/2500s
+0.3 EV

ISO might seem too much but initially needed as the subject was in full shade and facing away from the camera. As she turned towards us a few beams of sun touched her face. Decided to stick to my settings because the little ones were moving around and I did not want to miss out on a bit of action, they were partly hidden in the vegetation and I expected them to join mom.

I would call this a massive crop as I ended up with about 40% of the original frame after taking off from the top, bottom, and R side of the image. Eliminated some foliage by cloning.

Hope you like this, some IQ lost with the massive crop but she is so lovely I could not help but share:)

Thank you all for those lovely comments on my Black Rhino image, much appreciated.

[Marc Mol]

Gotta love that soulful look and wonderful amber eyes here Gabriela, good use of ISO with a nice low POV and dappled light. :w3


TFS

[Steve Kaluski]

Works for me Gabriela, and as Marc mentioned, love the dappled light, just sets the scene.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Gabriela - It held up pretty well to the large crop. Agree with Marc in his description of a "soulful" look. Nice job with the dappled light too.

TFS,
Rachel

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Oh Gabriela, I like this a lot. Love those beautiful eyes and the relaxed pose and HA. Superbly done. TFS.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nice light hitting the eyes and good job in framing with the body leading the eye to the face.

Nice techs! Not sure why you are contemplating a camera upgrade, nothing wrong with the D4 :5

[keith mitchell]

Beautiful relaxed and calm scene Gabriela ,love the look in this cats eyes and also the beautiful texture of the fur,all fits the bill for me.

Keith.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gaby, love your low shooting angle, and in turn, good eye contact from 'Honey Eyes'. The colours look great in the soft light, as does her coat. I quite like your pano crop - great idea, and well captured.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you all so much for viewing and kind comments,

"Honey Eyes" sounds lovely, Stu!

Morkel no upgrade needed really, for now I am keeping my D3S and D4. I just need another body, decided not to sell my relatively new 70-200 and instead use it more often. I think it was you who said I must try work with the 200 more:) I really do not like exchanging cameras and lenses, when things happen fast there's no time. "Dust bunnies" are also an issue.

Warmest regards,

[haseeb badar]

Hi Gabriela -- I agree with the above lovely image and the look of the Cheetah is so peaceful , loved the light as well and the low POV just makes the image for me . TFS !

[Gabriela Plesea]

Many thanks Haseeb,

Enjoyed reading your kind comments, a great motivation for me to share more images and I really appreciate your time to view:w3

Kind regards,