Stragglers

[Jay Shah]

Many thanks for all the helpful comments on the previous posts.

Mom with four youngsters became uncomfortable with attention they were getting from over excited safari goers on a very quiet afternoon at Samburu reserve. So she started moving swfitly to take cover in the bush. While two of the younsters were right beside her, these two were left behind as they were busy exploring the area. And then they realized they were left behind, so you can see anxious look on their faces as they were trying to catch up with rest of the family. C&C welcome and appreciated. On the LHS, canvass extended to allow some room for 'wagging the tail'! Also, distracting twig removed in the foreground.

Nikon D500, Tamron 70-200 mm f2.8 @ 70 mm
1/2000s, f6.3, ISO6400

[haseeb badar]

Hi Jay -- Guess you were lucky with the Cheetahs .

Looks something very wrong with the image. Very grainy and lacks details in the subject. Did you tried vignetting here ? There is that spot light kind of effect all around and only the cheetahs are lit up. I think you should try and reprocess the same.

Lets see what others have to say.

Sorry. TFS !

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jay,

Nice to see Cheetahs and it must have been a great thrill for you to be with them. Because they are so close like other images posted in a similar position, I'm not a huge fan of shooting down, it just amplify's 'safari vehicle', shooting further away with a much longer lens ie 500mm, or a different position (lower) will help. I also agree with Haseeb's observation, it looks/appears over processed, but that might also be compounded with a high ISO which I have no idea on how far you can push he D500, perhaps Marc could chime in on? I do think however it's good to push things, that then gives you the hindsight for the future is to haw far you can pushing things. The great thing now is that camera bodies allow you to get the capture, but you need to be mindful, however you then need to learn how to process he image too.

As presented I would loose a bit from the top to remove the green area top left and so you have more of a 'uniform' backdrop/environment.

Keep them coming!!!

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Jay , always good to see Cheetahs .
I do like the comp and the overall colors basically , a nice warmth in them.
Framing works for me with room to walk in for them ...
I do agree with Haseeb and Steve in terms of PP work and/or IQ .
TFS Andreas

[Jay Shah]

Hi Haseeb,

Yes I did vignett. But I think main issue is lack of enough light which pushed the ISO. Despite experience of others, I am not too thrilled with D500 and would soon change over to D850 - I love FF and pixels.

[Jay Shah]

Hi Steeve, grass here was rather tall. I do have images which I made from the lens with BB on the window. Here, as you can see whole family was on the move, so to keep the subject in frame with inexperienced driver was a bit of challenge and I decided to get the shots standing. Your comments are useful reminder to keep thinking cap on rather than just clicking the shutter, so please keep them coming.

By the way, feedback I received on tiger images that SS should be at least 1/1000s whenever subject is moving made me push ISO to get 1/1600s in Kenya. I think it helped me to get sharper images. Again thanks for helpful comments.

[Jay Shah]

Hi Andreas, thanks for your comments. I am going to retry PP. As noted earlier, light was not enough which resulted in higher ISO and smaller file as well. On positive note, I think I did a good job with the frame extension as I did not get any comments! Cheers.

[Steve Kaluski]

By the way, feedback I received on tiger images that SS should be at least 1/1000s whenever subject is moving made me push ISO to get 1/1600s in Kenya. I think it helped me to get sharper images. Again thanks for helpful comments.

Hi Jay, the old rule of thumb used to be, shoot with a 500mm lens then your SS should be 1/500, but with the advancements of the digital age you can have faster SS without compromising the ISO hopefully. Yes, I do push the ISO and yes, my philosophy has been that a noisy image is better than a soft one. Definitely the 850 will be better the the 500 and you will see a difference, but just be mindful of your settings and if you don't need a fast SS then shoot less and when you need it, go for it, but the more you shoot with your camera the more you will know how far it can be pushed.

[Marc Mol]

Always nice to see young cheetahs on the move, but agree with the others above regarding the high POV from vehicle and overall detail.


I have no idea on how far you can push he D500, perhaps Marc could chime in on? I do think however it's good to push things, that then gives you the hindsight for the future is to haw far you can pushing things.

TFS
Steve

All depends on personal taste and tolerances of course, but have my D500 shooting in M & Auto ISO to a max of 5000.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Jay - Always exciting to see cheetahs but I hope people were mindful of her anxiety (and the cubs') and left the sighting so as not to cause more stress. I agree with the observations above about the shooting angle and the pp.

TFS,
Rachel

[Marc Mol]

I hope people were mindful of her anxiety (and the cubs') and left the sighting so as not to cause more stress.

TFS,
Rachel

Note to self Rachel:

Never go the Mara, for the most part it's now a real circus. And I said that back in 2010. Just how Cheetahs are able to hunt (come migration time) is a minor miracle.:2eyes2:

[Rachel Hollander]

Marc, that's why I haven't been back to the Mara since 2003. It was bad even then with cars surrounding a leopard in a tree so that there was no way down and for the leopard to escape.

[Marc Mol]

Marc, that's why I haven't been back to the Mara since 2003. It was bad even then with cars surrounding a leopard in a tree so that there was no way down and for the leopard to escape.

Totally agree Rachel,
The signs of bad vehicle/client behaviour had become evident even on my first trip here in '93, my return to the Mara in 2010 was my 4th and very last time and let's not even start about Ngogorongo crater. :2eyes2: