Little Leopard

[Grant Atkinson]

Canon 7D, Canon 70-200f2.8is, focal length 130mm, s/speed 1/200s, f4.0, iso320, handheld from vehicle. Processed in ACR and sharpened in PS. Cropped to 17mp. 26 May 2010, 16h05, bright sunny conditions, but photographed in the shade. Location Mombo, Okavango Delta, Botswana.
This leopard cub was one of two, belonging to the female known as Legadima. One cub seemed to be much bolder than the other, and came out of a tree and walked around in front of us. The mother had an impala kill hidden in the tree, and we enjoyed excellent views of all 3 leopards for three days. Very lucky.
All c and c welcome
grant

www.grantatkinson.com (http://www.grantatkinson.com)

[Harshad Barve]

Boy-o-boy, what a beauty this is , I just want to hug that cub if Moma is not in close quarters :eek::D
Terrific image and Leopard will be on top priority in TZ next year , Big time congrats for this
TFS

[Hilary Hann]

Grant, this has everything going for it. Really great composition and activity on the cub's part. Nice head angle and those eyes are fantastic. Even the tail is positioned well. On my monitor it appears to have a slight colour cast and I wonder if anyone else can see that, but then I look again and am not sure. :confused:
I might tone down the sparkling grass just in front of the cub, but then again it doesn't really bother me.

Obviously, the simple strength of this image means the little things really don't matter.

What a lovely portrait of a leopard cup. Love it.

[Steve Kaluski]

We must be in 'Cute' season with all these cubs appearing!

I do like the placement and inquisitive expression on the face. You are just on the border line with shutter speed HH. Again, whether it is slight movement both by the cub/you, or the 7D or a combination of both, the image just lacks a little more definition, was this cropped Grant? I would also like to see a fraction more above too if possible?

TFS
Steve

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Grant I like it !! If anything just a more room !! btw the 7D performs well and don't hesitate to increase the ISO when need I usually like more shutter speed to cover any sudden action !!

btw would darken the light areas on the RL, there are a couple that keep grabbing my attention !! Like the image a lot and high in the cuteness factor !!!

[David Thomasson]

Nice capture; I like that alert/curious gaze. Being in the shade, the subject and limb have a cyan cast. Easy fix is to use
the gray dropper (curves or levels) on the branch about where the yellow dot is, then apply that adjustment only to the
animal and the branch. The background seems fine as is.

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/3716/leopard2.jpg

http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/9411/leopardm.jpg

[Alfred Forns]

Excellent David The little extra room and contrast boost makes all the difference !!!

[Grant Atkinson]

Thanks everyone so much for all the comments. David, your repost has much better colour. Thanks for PS tips with selective WB. This shot is barely cropped, I do have a fraction more room in the original, I just cropped off one mpixel from the top and right side. I will darken the bright areas in BG. Al, thanks for your advice, but I try to avoid anything beyond iso400 on the 7D, it just gets too noisy for me and loses contrast. I dont have a specific NR program yet. Steve, your point on S/speed being borderline is correct, I was juggling DOF again. Glad everybody liked the comp..I will see if I can improve and repost.
Thanks again
Grant

[Hilary Hann]

David's repost has removed the colour cast I was noticing and just that slight change has really lifted the image. Al is quite right, high on the cute factor … always a winner.

[Andy Biggs]

Great photograph, Grant. I agree about the color cast, and David eloquently described my most common fix. Glad you are having fun with Legadema and her cubs. Looking forward to hearing what their names will be when they are 1 year old! Mombo is a special place, for sure.

See you in a few weeks.

[DanWalters]

Love the eyes and the way the cub is positioned on the tree.

[Morkel Erasmus]

it's awesome to know that Legadema has her own cubs now...nice cute pic Grant - David's repost has improved the colour. I am very comfortable with my 7D noise levels even up to 1600 ISO