African Leopard !

[haseeb badar]

Hello everyone , thank you for all your comments and suggestions to my previous post as always much appreciated.

Decided to give a break to Tiger images, after seeing some fantastic images from Dr.Sanjeev from his recent Africa trip and of course all the wonderful images from Gabriela from the same region, I too was tempted to post an image from that part of the world.

Sighted this female leopard early in the morning but she was on the hunt and continuously moved from one place to another. We somehow lost her and after a frantic search were able to locate her resting in the tall grasses. We decided to wait for her which turned out to be a good 3 hr wait resulting in some harsh lighting conditions when finally some impalas appeared on the scene. She quickly got in her action routine and in doing so climbed up a tree for a recce. Nothing materialised into a hunt but definitely into some good photo opportunities even though the light was quite strong.

DPP 4.8, PSCC 2019, WB, curves, levels, selective colour, vignetting, sharpening, cloned out a few distracting branches behind the leopard.

Canon 1DX MK II. Canon 200-400 f4 @ 480mm, bean bag.

ss 1/1600, f/5.6, iso 320.

Looking forward for all your comments and suggestions be it of any nature.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Haseeb, a fine shot with great 'perch' and clean BG. You managed to expose well despite the harsh light. Wish the eyes were fully open for the stare to have more impact but not a deal breaker. Lovely image and TFS.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Haseeb, nice encounter and I like the framing albeit it needs a bit more at the foot.

Was the image under exposed? In this instance the vignette I feel is a negative addition and the image is heavily clipped in the blacks and so you are loosing detail in both shadows & midtone and so the LH branch appears dominating. To me the colours look/appear a bit muted, where I might have thought the coat would be richer and the whites cleaner/brighter. Is this cropped and if so, by how much, as it would be helpful if folk can add this in when posting, thanks.


cloned out a few distracting branches behind the leopard.

I would have also toned down the brighter HL to the right & below the tree.

TFS
Steve

[haseeb badar]

Thank you Doc and Steve .

@ Steve : This is not cropped so no more space at the foot. As far as colours are concerned I did opted for a more richer look and then backed off on second thoughts, so i could explore that again. Also will back off on vignette especially on that branch.

thanks and much appreciated.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Haseeb, this is less than ideal, but you can see the difference in terms of the darkness etc, albeit hard to remove from the OP.

[haseeb badar]

Will try and do a RP tonight, i have got the gist of your feedback.

[Steve Kaluski]

Steve : This is not cropped so no more space at the foot.

I think Haseeb you sometimes either need to pull back in position when using a fixed, prime lens, or ditto with a zoom, but this is far easier, I just think you are not allowing yourself many options when 'framing' the subject. Give yourself say 10%+ room to play with for the final crop rather than trying to create a final frame in camera. Remember for the future, if you supplied the image to a Photo library or similar, then they will require the FF version, uncropped, so always try to have a bit of leeway. :S3:

[haseeb badar]

You are absolutely right Steve , more often than not i try to get the final frame in the camera itself, its kind of become a habit for me now. I will have to keep your advice in mind from now on.

Thanks.

[haseeb badar]

Here is a RP , WDYT ?

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Haseeb,

Wonderful sighting, subject seems quite relaxed and I like the expression on her face and eye contact. Don't think I have ever seen whiskers that long on a leopard:bg3:

Frame does appear a little tight at the bottom. And even though the subject's tail might be hidden from view I would still want to allow for it:tinysmile_shy_t:

Colours look good, Steve's brighter version looks even better. I too think a vignette was not needed here. BG is really nice, especially with that bit of 'tidying up".

Those branches on the LHS are indeed a bit of a problem, must say I have encountered this issue a number of times as well. What can we do Haseeb, leopards love to rest and also place their prey in the fork of a tree, so there are always branches or leaves to contend with!

Otherwise, subject is sharp with good detail. Techs are ok, but I think you were taking a chance there...always anticipate movement when it comes to the big cats so aim for a faster SS, especially when you can afford the ISO:S3:

I certainly enjoyed viewing, as well as reading your exchanges with Steve and Sanjeev, looking forward to the RP if you have time.

Kind regards,

[Gabriela Plesea]

Haseeb, sorry, I posted my reply at the same time you uploaded your RP:bg3:
I like it:cheers:Still find the blue patches in the BG a tad distracting but of course its your choice whether you wish to remove them or not.

Have a wonderful evening,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Haseeb always great to see this species ... and specially that open !!!

I can only echo Steve´s thoughts & suggestions !!!!

With a little different tweaking a complete different image IMHO .

TFS Andreas

[haseeb badar]

Thank you Gabriela and Andreas , your opinions always matter and I will gladly follow all your suggestions on this image for further improvements.

[haseeb badar]

Tried to overcome those clipped blacks .

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Haseeb .... well my impression was you only tried ... but not managed to overcome the clipping . :w3
Check the histogram ... all 3 channels still clipped IMHO . How does this come ?

[haseeb badar]

Yes it’s still clipping, will start with the raw once again.

[Andreas Liedmann]

No way around to start with raw ....once clipped that heavy :t3

[John Mack]

Nice view of this leopard. The pose and stare are great. I like the framing as is.