Savute leopard

[jameshaskins]

Here is one from Savute, Botswana. great late afternoon light


Canon EOS 450D DIGITAL
1/320Sec.
F6.3
Exposure Compensation
0
ISO Speed
400
Lens
170-500mm (Sigma)
Focal Length
425.0 mm

[Harshad Barve]

WOW ! Look at those eyes man , beauty , only wish was better BG
TFS

[Morkel Erasmus]

lovely light and detail here...good image quality and sharpness for that lens.
I would run some more noise reduction on the background and maybe blur it a bit more to get rid of the pixelation.

welcome here!!

[Marc Mol]

Good detail and lighting James, agree with Morkel on the BG, could also do with a touch of cooling on your WB also.
TFS

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Nice image. I agree with Marc regarding cooling off the white balance. A little bit lowering of contrast and saturation would also strengthen the image. It is good that there are no obstructions infront of the eyes. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[jameshaskins]

Thanks for all the tips guys...
Working on the changes now. Particularly interested in bluring the background more - any tips on how to do this in photoshop. Thanks

[Steve Kaluski]

A classic pose by a beautiful animal James. James was this taken down along the channel, be nice to know if you can remember?;) Looks a tad warm, but that might just be the laptop.

re Blur: If you duplicate your existing layer, then using that layer go to Filter > Blur > Gaussiun blur, then move the slide with the preview box ticked. You can then view how much to blur. Be warned, you need to be careful as the result may not look authentic, so go easy. :)

Once you are happy, add a layer mask to this layer, fill black then paint back in the area you need to with a white brush. If it looks too strong then use the 'Opacity' slider in the Layers palette.

Combine/merge the layers, Save for web, repost.

Hope this helps.

Steve

[Steve Kaluski]

James, this also may help you too.

http://birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=834

[Alfred Forns]

Hi James Great comments and do check out the link Lots of useful information.

btw if you want to try some bg blurring etc, post in ETL and will get some extra help and also be able to post just for that purpose !!!

[Todd Frost]

Nice image of a lovely cat. Good advice on the bg and would agree with lowering the color temp slightly without loosing the warm light. TFS
Todd

[jameshaskins]

....sorry steve, this was taken very near to the "channel" which is flowing again incidently. It is a female leopard that is well known these days in savute cause she is so willing to pose....

[Hendri Venter]

You got this one in perfect golden light. Nice pose as well. Top shot James.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi James thanks for that.

Do they still have the log stockade for viewing near the camp? The camp is on the list to go back too, just need the Dollar to be more favourable. BTW, was there much game there, variety?

Finally, is this was from a recent trip could you, if you have time, drop Lou Buonomo a quick update of the camp as he will be visiting it and between us he should have a good a insight.

Thanks again
Steve :)

[Danny Laredo]

Excellent light and pose.