Up Close and Personal (C)

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Friends,

It so happens that I have had some amazing encounters with wildlife lately which I enjoyed tremendously, but not many photographic opportunities. Two weeks ago I was chased by a big ellie before I even managed to get my gear out of the window... The following day I observed a couple of lions catching a warthog in the local game reserve, but the vegetation was so dense that I decided to put my camera down, I just could not get a clear view. The other day I witnessed the release of three lionesses into a private reserve - my companion and I kept some distance in order not to stress the animals who were just waking up from anaesthesia so no photographs taken, but what a delightful afternoon it was! We managed to identify a number of birds and insects and just paid attention to this wonderful environment we care so much about:S3:

So all I have for you tonight is a plain cheetah portrait taken months ago in a large enclosure that belongs to a rehabilitation centre nearby. This old girl is a proud mother of two youngsters soon to be released in the wild. Not that tame really and I would not dare pet her, but she seems to tolerate my presence quite well. I guess all is good as long as I do not interfere with her cubs:w3

Techs:

Nikon D5
Nikon 70-200 F2.8 @ 145mm
ISO 2500
F10
1/1000s


I promise to try and look for more exciting images in my folders. My humble apologies for being a little scarce lately, this time of the year is rather demanding and a little stressful for me but I love this Forum and will participate as much as I possibly can. Thank you so much for taking the time to view, I so appreciate it. Hope you all have a great rest of the week:S3:

Kind regards,

[Glenn Pure]

Always a pleasure to see your work Gabriela - whenever you can get to it. And this one is no exception. Nothing plain about such a lovely portrait either. Lovely detail, great rich tones and colours on the cheetah and a great soft background to provide good contrast. Lovely look she is giving you as well. The composition is simple and straighforward and I think works well here. Lots to like here and no nits from me.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Gabriela - You had some nice light and she let you get pretty close judging by the gear. Nice job on the dof. Excellent detail, especially in the blacks of the face. The squarish crop works. Only thing I would do if it were mine is to darken the blueish specular hl intersecting the cheek on the left. Nice one.

TFS,
Rachel

[Mike Poole]

A gerat stare, and I agree 'petting' would not be top of my list of priorities here either!

I like the fact you've gone for plenty of DoF here, but I think a little more may have helped as the nose seems sharper than the eyes to me. I obviously don't know how mobile you can be in these kind of situations, but I would have preferred yo uto have web in a position where the light was coming either from behind you, or from the side where the body is, so keeping the near side of the face to you lit with the far side in shadow.

I hope you get more opportunities to spend time with her - must be a wonderful experience to be so up close and personal, and the frame filling crop here really reflects that - makes a great change from long telephoto portraiture.

Mike

[haseeb badar]

Hi Gabriela -- Works fine for me , look at the details , incredible. Feels like it is coming out of the monitor. Excellent work to get the details in the blacks and nice choice of DOF. Loved it .

TFS !

[Gabriela Plesea]

I will look at those specular lights Rachel, did not realise they were so bright until you told me - thanks my friend:bg3:

Mike, I forgot to mention something in my intro: this Cheetah has a very unusual nose, kind of rough (but moist at the same time, and very shiny). I guess I should go back on sharpening on the nose a bit? Regarding DoF, I rarely use the 70-200 lens so I admit I was guessing at the time, thought F10 was enough. Not much time to experiment, cheetah was walking away and I was following, she turned around and looked in my direction for a few moments so I quickly took a few frames. One of her cubs was nibbling on my gear so I might have been a bit distracted. It might look like great fun, getting close to those animals. But in terms of photography it is quite challenging, LOL. You have to constantly watch what is going on around you and not let an adult approach you from behind (especially when lying down for a nice POV). Cubs run around and play a lot, so when things get a bit rough they start growling and hissing. Mom then thinks they are in trouble so the first thing she does is check you out. And man she looks straight into your eyes with a penetrating stare second to none...Maybe I should post one of those images I took of her while looking at me like that, let me see what I got in those folders...
Thought you guys and girls might find this boring. Surprised and at the same time so pleased with your comments, thank you so much for taking the time to view:5

Kind regards,

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, I love the simplicity here and the framing. I still think 1/1600SS, but I'm just wondering if the calibration is slightly out, where was the FP, but the ISO doesn't look great, perhaps a little too close, but hope you get your hands on the 850, it out ranks the D5. I'm really surprised to see two Avian Mods go to the 'dark side' now, big mistake IMHO :S3:.

Nice one. :cheers:

TFS
Steve

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you Steve, you know how I feel about SS so you'll forgive me this one:tinysmile_shy_t:. Will check FP.

Some good news, I ordered the 850 and accessories from Nikon but they are waiting for stock, probably first week in December so hold thumbs please.

Err...one more thing...next time you come to Africa I plan to introduce you to the "dark side":t3:bg3::w3

Chat soon, have a wonderful evening,

[Steve Kaluski]

I just feel the 'fine' hairs are a bit coarse as a close portrait????



Some good news, I ordered the 850 and accessories from Nikon but they are waiting for stock, probably first week in December so hold thumbs please.

You won't regret it, saw it action in Norway, nice bit of kit, you'll love it, but the 'Darkside' is getting strong, as it's pull one if not two Mods very recently now!!! :S3:



Err...one more thing...next time you come to Africa I plan to introduce you to the "dark side"

“Do. Or do not. There is no try.” - Yoda

[Gabriela Plesea]

Yes Steve, they do look a bit coarse:tinysmile_shy_t:

Cannot wait for the D850 to try it out...will let you know!

May the Force be with you, Master:bg3: