Cheetah in my Garden

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Everyone,

Thought I'd share an image from my 'back garden'. About a year ago or so I sold my property in town and moved in with my partner Carl who lives and works in a private game reserve. Due to the nature of my work I cannot quite afford the time to stop and take photographs whenever the opportunity arises, this is because I have to get to work on time and open the pharmacy doors. But on this particular morning I was lucky, it was a public holiday and I had a bit of time on my hands, thought I'd look around the camp for an impala or warthog with babies. Imagine my surprise when I saw this cheetah mom and her cub resting in the shade of a tree, still not sure how they got in because the camp is fenced, perhaps someone forgot to close the gate...

At first I was disappointed to see both mom and cub move to deeper shade, but it did not take long and mom came out looking intently at a herd of impala nearby. Within seconds she leaped out of the bushes and after a short while I saw her in the rearview mirror carrying a little impala lamb. I have many images from this sighting but had no chance to process them, just chose one randomly just to share. Hope to find the time to show you more but December is rather hectic in terms of work so maybe in January I will have some time.

Techs:

Nikon Z9
Nikon 500 mm F4
F6.3
+2/3 EV
1/1000s

Processed in LR and PSCC. The trees in the BG not ideal but such is the camp. Suggestions welcome, of any nature. Than you so much for taking the time to view, much appreciated.

Kind regards,

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Gabriela, sorry you don't have too much time spare,I hope the situation improves for you.
Image details look good but the image looks rather flat ( bit like some of my recent posts!) I think it needs a little boost in contrast and I would also check the white balance, the image looks a little yellow to me. Details look good and the eyes really grab my attention.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, great to see that between power cuts and work you are able to post and this is a cracking scene, that anyone of us would love to have been in your position.

Perspective is great, if possible lower would have been better, but... BKG, yes a bit of a bugger, I would crop tighter and remove them in this instance, they are ugly and occasionally ugly is a good addition, here it's not IMHO. You have a 45mpx camera so no worries on cropping. It appears yellow, but a touch of blue on the Temp gets the whites almost bang on, so it just comes down to sliders and may be going a little too much on Vibrance which happens most of the time. The two subjects need a bit more oomph, Contrast, your call, better and less destructive ways however what ever is applied then gives the two more punch and standout. You want more tonal range in these two and darken the FG, greens you can also tweak to bring out the detail you have.

Looks like the gardener had been in and mowed the lawn prior. :bg3:

TFS
Steve

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Jon and Steve,

Thank you so much for feedback, I so appreciate it! Was so happy to be able to 'squeeze' an image in here before electricity went last night! Situation is dire is SA at the moment, we have power cuts about three times a day, sometimes for two hours at a time and other times longer.
Back to the image, I did notice after posting the slight yellow cast and will fix it. Could have taken the trees out but felt it was a bit too much 'manipulation', will try crop further Steve and see what happens. As well as add a bit more oomph:bg3:

And yes you are right, the chaps were cutting grass that day and walking about, the cheetah did not seem to mind that much as long as they were far enough from the cub. This is by no means a tame animal but I think with time she got used to the game vehicles with people and also, she has been coming into the camp every now and then because we have lots of impala milling about. A few weeks ago she caught a lamb in front of our gate... I was on my way to work and had no camera with me... so a missed opportunity.

Do have more to share and hope you can chip in again with suggestions or RP's, I am a bit rusty with PP and sadly have not made any progress lately.

Hope you have a wonderful afternoon,

Warmest regards to you both,

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Gabriela, what a moment captured! The predator with prey facing us is awesome. I would have loved to photograph this, even in the 'back yard garden'. I agree with Steve's suggestions. Cropping more from above will definitely reduce the impact of the OOF stumps. Nice one. Hope you can get time and share more. I hope the situation in SA improves soon.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gabriela ... what a drama happening in your backyard , so cool . And then passing by without having the camera with you .... a nightmare :bg3:.
So finally you have your Z9 , i hope you are feeling goood with it and the mirrorless world .
Image is really cool with the Cheetah facing the viewer and even one eye of the prey is visible .... what to wish more ???!!
Sorry to hear you are feeling rusty with PP work , just post rather than getting hung up with the pp.
Image could be improved for sure , in some ways .... a bit too yellow overall and maybe some tonal punch in the subject would not hurt . I do think it is not 100 % sharp as posted ...
I do not mind that much about the tree stumps .

Super cool image and TFS Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you Sanjeev and Andreas, much appreciated!

Sanjeev, don't think the situation will improve soon. Sadly...But I am trying my best under the circumstances.

Andreas, I will try keep posting, regardless of the challenges. Got my Z9 some time ago and spent a few weeks setting it up, in the evenings when back from work and sometimes mornings while driving to work :S3: I think by now I know it inside out but keep adjusting things according to circumstances. Especially in therms of AF. And yes a bit rusty with PP work and feel I am falling behind as I do not have the time to learn anything new, not even to practice. I still want to be here with you all and looking forward to any comments and suggestions on my images. Sometimes when there's no electricity I move to a cooler spot in the house, like the veranda, and process on my laptop (which is new, I have yet to calibrate it so colours might be off). I still prefer the big screen but afraid it will get damaged when power goes off all of a sudden.

Will try improve this image, I now have an idea which way to go. Not sure about the sharpness, it is already a big crop as I tried to eliminate the trees. Must have a thousand images from this sighting although I think some are quite underexposed, wasn't sure how far to go with ISO on this body.

Extremely happy to hear from you all, thank you again for positive critique and kind words!

Hope you have a lovely evening,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Have send you a whatsapp ....:bg3:

[Gabriela Plesea]

Have send you a whatsapp ....:bg3:

Got it! And replied:tinysmile_shy_t: