Leopard Brute

[Morkel Erasmus]

Had to also add something to the theme.
The brute they call "Dewane" or "Dayone" (pronounced Day-1) in the western Sabi Sands.
I'd have loved more space, but he was CLOSE and I had to rotate slightly as well :t3.

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f6.3 | 1/1250 SS | ISO-280
80% of full frame after crop and rotation

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Mork, that certainly is a large leopard looking at the size of his head. Sharp where it counts, and I like the detail. Colours look good too.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Morkel - He does look like an older, bigger brute of a leopard. Nice light and sharpness. I'm ok with the tight space. You can tell he is walking by you. I might have gone for a bit more dof but easier to say in hindsight than do in the heat of the moment. You certainly could have with the ISO so low. Some of the blacks seem a little heavy.

TFS,
Rachel

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the pose and the large in the frame appearance details look very good, DOF looks equally good to me- look at the mucky whiskers! His head looks almost as broad as a jaguar's - wonderful animal. Nice background to boot.

[Marc Mol]

Lovely portrait of this veteran Morkel, DOF is fine with me, and know just how difficult it is when they head straight at you with a big prime in your hands.
I'm wondering if this is the same young DayOne male I first saw back in '04 when I had young Marius Coetzee as my guide in SSGR?? .......not likely I suppose as he'd be at least 14/15 yrs now.:Whoa!:

TFS

[haseeb badar]

Hi Morkel -- Lovely closeup of the Leopard , looks huge , judging by the size of its head . I also liked the shadow of the brows in its dominant eye . certainly a bit more dof would have been better considering the option of iso that u had , but i really liked the image and the subject especially .

TFS !

[D. Robert Franz]

Fine portrait of a monster leopard... Well done!

[Basil Dardagan]

What an animal !!!! I am still such a sucker for big male leopards and lions !!!!! Loved staring at this Morkel ............cheers

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Morkel, agree with Dale, looks a bit of a brute. The DoF is OK as presented, but you had plenty of ISO so going f/9, and say a SS 1/2500 would have given you a bit more to the image I feel.

TFS
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks folks.


Hi Morkel, agree with Dale, looks a bit of a brute. The DoF is OK as presented, but you had plenty of ISO so going f/9, and say a SS 1/2500 would have given you a bit more to the image I feel.

TFS
Steve

Indeed - for much of the sighting he was walking with foliage directly behind him and we were further away, hence my settings reflect that context. I too wish I'd gone for more DOF here.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Morkel what a stunning specimen .!!!!!!
he is looking a bit like the " Grumpy Cat " ......:bg3::S3::bg3:.
Lovely saturated colors and nice deep tones .... all does sit nicely together .Well the DOF could have been more .... but hey the overall impression is eliminating that " issue " .There is always something that could be a tiny bit better , to take an image up a notch .
Must have been a pleasure to wait for this big guy .

TFS Andreas