Dune Leopard

[Hendri Venter]

We were very lucky to find this Leopard lying on a dune on our second last day in the Kgalagadi. In January this year she was seen with a cub in the same area by friends of us but looks like they've parted ways now.

Canon 1D MK III
Canon 300mm F2.8
ISO 500
SS 1/640 sec
Aperture F8
Exposure +0.3
Focal Lenght 300mm

[peter delaney]

Always great to capture an image of a leopard in KTP... the lighting seems to have been flat... and not certain if the focus point was on the eyes.. might need a little more sharpening .. i cud be wrong.. will see what our fellow members think.

still a lovely image... if it was mine i wud consider a pano crop...

peter

[Marc Mol]

Lovely relaxed pose on this female Hendri, with the red desert providing wonderful contrast.


and not certain if the focus point was on the eyes.. might need a little more sharpening .. i cud be wrong.. will see what our fellow members think.peter

The eyes/head look fairly sharp on my cal monitor, Peter.

[Stu Bowie]

Hey mate, overall, the leopard looks sharp, infact on my screen I can see small areas of oversharpening on the forehead, whiskers and below the eyes. Colours look good and well exposed, and love the lazy pose. Pete's suggestion of a pano crop will work. Great sighting, and well captured.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Love the relaxed composition here Hendri. Beautiful color and detail and a lovely pose. Many thanks for sharing.

[Ken Watkins]

No problems with this in any way. I am now puzzling which animal is more photogenic (beautiful). I will stick wirh Tiger, Cheetah and Wild Dog until I can find something else ( fat chance!)

[philperry]

Beautiful shot Hendri. I love the subtle lighting. Looks like it had rained overnight judging by the sand.

[David Fletcher]

Beautiful relaxed pose and saturated colors Hendri. Very nicely done. Great sighting and only thing I think that can make it better is direct eye contact. Top stuff!!!

[Robert Amoruso]

The grasses provide a pleasing BG with the light blue sky and the contrast the the red dirt works very well. Only thing I see that might have improved this image would have been moving to get the OOF foliage in front of the rear legs out of the image. Of course, moving is not always an option.

[Morkel Erasmus]

very jealous about this, especially since we found NADA leopards on our last trip there...
lovely light, colours and relaxed pose. sharpness fine IMO

[Harshad Barve]

for me ,
Print it & Hang it image :)
TFS

[Danny J Brown]

Hi Hendri: I've been loving all the cheetah shots and this one is no exception. This image has some beautiful color, especially the substrate and I love the way the cheetah is "takin' it easy." A beautiful shot that is very easy on the eyes.

[Steve Canuel]

Sharpness loooks good here too. I really like the color transitions between the sand, lepoard & grasses, and sky. I also like the soft light.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

This is a lovely image. I like the colours and the habitat. I wish for a higher depth of field. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Danny Laredo]

This is really nice Hendri. I really like how relaxed the leopard is.

[Steve Bailey]

Considering it took me 17 visits to the park before even sighting a Leopard in KTP believe there is very little wrong with this image, disagree that its flat, or over sharpened. Its a classic Leopard shot. Just returned from an 8 day visit to KTP and once again, no Leopard sighting.
Just started uploading images from the trip here
http://www.pbase.com/mashona/kgalagadi_2009

[DanWalters]

Like the relaxed look of the leopard. Also like the surrounding grasses and the color of the sand.

[Steve Patterson]

for me ,
Print it & Hang it image :)
TFS

I agree.....excellent photo of a beautiful cat.

[Hendri Venter]

Thank you so much for all your kind comments everyone. Its highly appreciated. Yes Phil there were a few rain drops about an hour before I took this shot. Well spotted.

[Billy Steenkamp]

So typical Kgalagadi ...red dunes, ra and bushmen grasses and to top it all a beautifull leopard captured in situ..well done Hendri

[Betsie Storm]

Admired this one before & forgot to add my congrats Hendri- let me do so now. This cat should be getting some royalties from ODP & BPN....