Regal Cheetah

[Rachel Hollander]

Taken in the Sabi Sands in the early morning hours in August 2009. The Cheetah had slept on his termite mound throne. We watched him awake, stretch, mark his territory and move on.

Canon 50D
100-400 at 170 mm
Tv 1/640
Av f8.0
ISO 400

Slight crop applied to remove excess foreground and background.

C&C welcome and appreciated.

Thanks, Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel

Just curious why you are posting here and not Wildlife? Perhaps you should post in both?

Composition works well, slight head turn towards camera would have push this image, like the POV. The overall colour looks right for the time of day, gentle with a hint of warmth. Good colour in the eyes, although the right does look a bit bright, or is that left? The tree right behind not ideal, but can leave with it, the one to the left of it is slightly dominate IMHO. I am sure that some viewers would like to see the rock removed behind the back/spine.

The image could be sharper based on the techs, where was the Focus point sighted? It's not the lens as its not over the 300mm mark, so perhaps a little camera shake, as cropping has been explained in your text?Might have been better for the viewer to have the tail slightly bent rather than straight to cover his 'modesty'.:D

TFS
Steve ;)

[Lance Peters]

Hi Rachel - steve covered it nicely - Like the image a lot and hope to get there myself some day.
Looking forward to seeing more :)

[Harold Davis]

steve covered it nicely, but i might add that personally i'd like to see a little more room all around. love the light on this one. the rock removal behind the spine would be nice, but i like being able to make out the other background features. nicely done!!

[Jill Davis]

Nice capture of color on this cheetah. Nicely done.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Rachel Fully agree with Steve !!

Love the way you got the entire tail within the frame !!! Not sure if you are able to but would be nice getting the driver to pull up a couple of feet for clearing the merge with the tree and cover the partial termite mound !! Excellent image !!!

[Oscar Zangroniz]

Like the comp, details and soft colors. A little more room to the right side for my taste. Non the less, a beautiful capture.
Congrats

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everyone. When we arrived the cheetah was lying with his head between the two termite mounds so this was an improvement. Btw this is the PG version. He woke up like many male species. I'll have to look back but I think one of the reasons I cropped off a little on the right was that there was a little bush that annoyed me there. Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions.

Rachel

P.S. I'll start posting more in the wildlife forum.