The TR Leopard

[Callie de Wet]

The Twee Rivieren female, she gave us a ball of a time with 5 sightings during our December 2009 trip to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier park. As she left the dune to go down to the waterhole, there was a mad rush of cars following her. We got a nice spot, but as the watering hole is below the view point, she was with her back to all of us. We squeezed out, and drove down to the opposite side of the hole, ±80 from her. Now she was facing us and we got some nice shots. By this time, the sun was behind the dune and everything was in shade. Full frame, Exposure, USM
Leopard, Panthera pardus, Kingdom: Animalia (Animals), Phylum: Chordata (Vertebrates), Class: Mammalia (Mammals), Carnivora: (Carnivores) ,Felidae: (Cats), Luiperd
<o>http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4053/4260246856_6d69e073fa_o.jpg</o>
D300S
ISO 800
1/320
F8
AP
-1EV
18h52<o></o>

[Todd Frost]

Wonderful sighting, I only wish it was mine:D. A little levels adj, contrast boost, sat boost and eye work. See what you think. Oh also crop from right to take out of center.
Todd

[Alfred Forns]

Fine looking image Callie !!! The re post Rocks !!! Image could have worked well as a vertical !! Fine looking animal and great pose !!

[Marc Mol]

Wonderful sighting, great pose with this female. Agree with Al that may work better as a vertical if you have room top & bottom, is this F/F?
Repost is an improvement, though just a tad high in contrast for my taste.
TFS

[Steve Canuel]

I like the pose of the leopard here. Another option to warm up a bit yet still keep the shady feel Also cropped a tad off the right to an 8x10. Will remove if you wish.

[Stu Bowie]

Great sighting Callie, and love the pose. Being 80m away not sure if some fill flash would have worked. I like Steve's repost. BTW, good thinking on getting around to the other side of the waterhole. You got the eye contact.

[Ken Watkins]

Another vote for Steve's repost, the original is a little too dark for my taste and the second too light.

Nonetheless fine examples of the myriads of differences that can be achieved.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I too like Steve's repost. What lens were you using?

[Morkel Erasmus]

you got a great pose here Callie. not sure I remember the other side of Samevloeiiing to be 80m from the waterhole, so at which waterhole was this?

assume this was with the 600mm? something looks off on the leopard, as if you did noise reduction on her? not sure what but her details seem too smooth. nobody's mentioned this so it might just be me.

I like Steve's repost the most in terms of colour and lighting. I am green! :D

[Callie de Wet]

Hi Guys, All of you who looked and comment - I appreciate. This was shot using a Nikkor 600 F4 +1.4 TC.
And Morkel, it is far. Drive down next time and see. No noise reduction, the high ISO may cause it in the shade. It could be a function of file size - This one needs to be larger than 200kb I think, I have noticed that the affect you mentioned is sometimes evident if the file size is too small.
Steve, Todd, I took note of your your crop suggestions and PP prowess. I agree with your cropping off the RHS, but I also added above the tail! This make s the compo much better. Unfortunately, Paypal does not come back to me, so I cannot pay my subscription and upload the updated image. I like the colour punch you guys added. The levels did a great job.
However, the Kalahari leopards are slightly lighter than the bushveld leopard, all those we have seen, and there is not as much red in the coat as per the posts.
I really appreciate your comments and reposts, it sets the gray matter thinking and that is why I joined here, to really learn from those who have the knowledge and skills and can teach others. Much obliged.

[Elmar Venter]

Callie, this is a stunning image. I like her pose between the natural looking rocks. You will learn lots on BPN, it is a great forum to be part of.