Stalking Leopard

[Rachel Hollander]

This is Quarantine, a male leopard, seen at Djuma in Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa. We found him late in an afternoon game drive with little natural light left. This was taken just before we turned on the spotlight.

Canon 5D3
70-200 II @ 200mm
1/500
f3.5
ISO 6400
HH from safari vehicle, ff, curves, color adjustments, sharpened in PSCC.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Rachel,

Superb stalking pose from this leopard and I like the focused look, would love to know what prey he was after:w3

I think you managed the fading light very well, nice techs, good IQ despite high ISO and not a great deal of noise.

This is well processed with nice colours and detail on the face and chest of the subject. I quite like the raised paw there showing movement.

I take it you had some fantastic encounters during your Africa trip so looking forward to see more images and read the story behind them.

Thank you very much for sharing, much appreciated - I enjoyed viewing:S3:

Warmest regards,

[John Mack]

Love focused look on the leopard the raised foot is nice. Looks good for the high ISO. The composition works quite well here.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Rachel, a nice image despite the challenging light conditions. I like the incline the leopard is on and the pose is nice. Good techs & that 70-200 2.8 helped here.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, I like the fact the guide got you below the subject so you are looking up at the subject. The raised paw and low profile works, conveying the stalking pose. Also I think this is the first time I have seen you shoot at 6400, well done, however even at that range you haven't got the SS to get the critical sharpness and freeze the moment I feel, but it just could be the the ISO adding but the front paw has motion blur. The f/2.8 was a good choice because of how much light needed, sadly I won't be taking mine on this trip. Overall there is a definite yellow 'hue' to the image, pulling the tint back addresses this.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Gabriela, John, Sanjeev and Steve, much appreciated. I have shot at 6400 before. I just rarely post them because I much prefer the look of lower ISO images and strive to keep it lower. I am fine with the bit of movement in the paw. The face is sharp where it matters and the dof shallow to open up the lens and increase ss. I used the 70-200 often on this recent trip and always had the 70-200 on one body and the 300 II 2.8 on the other when starting out before dawn in the morning and finishing in the dark in the evening.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Rachel, excellent comp here, with the leopard looking into the frame. I like the low perspective, together with the intense stare. Tack sharp where it counts, even with such a low ss, and I like the raised paw. Well captured.

[Jay Shah]

Hi Rachel, considering how little of light was there, I think you did a wonderful job in the field and PP to make this very nice image. In this case, blur movement is ever so slight, but even more of it would have been fine for me personally as it shows the subject was in moving. TFS.