Getting ready

[Hilary Hann]

Cheetah with young cub found on the side of the road where the Mara North Conservancy meets the Mara Reserve. She had just seen some gazelle and soon after this she went fully into hunting mode and was soon on the horizon flat out. No success this time and she reunited with her cub shortly after. I've purposefully kept the crop tight, to keep the intense mood from her expression.
7D; 300mm IS f4: =1.4 TC; ISO1000; f32; 1/250. I would have had a sharper image if I'd opened up and increased my ss. Shortly afterwards I changed to Av instead of Sv! :o

[Ken Watkins]

Hilary,

F32?, for this lens combination you should only need F8, and a subsequently increased S/S.

I would prefer more room on the left and bottom, and the contrast seems a little too strong.

[Hilary Hann]

Ken, as I pointed out in my OP, I made a mistake with the SS/Aperture combination. I know some will prefer more room at left, but I respectively disagree as the looser crop made the image lose the intensity that I was after (I had looked at this when doing my initial crop). Would like some more room below her feet but I didn't take any … oops. :cool:

[Harshad Barve]

Hilary

I liked this very much , nice light and shadow effect here , if IQ withstands I may crop this real TIGHT , e-mailed you my version , may be worth doing it from original
TFS

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Hilary

Techs already covered and does illustrate why we all need to check settings & histogram.

The image is rather to contrasty, with the blacks 'blocking' a lot of potential detail. If you are to keep this crop I would also lose some off the top (2/3rds) as it doesn't really help IMHO. As you have no more at the foot of the image then I would keep it as is with the tweak. Saying that Hilary, I too would like to see slightly more room and this would not affect or detract from 'the intense mood from her expression.' I would shoot just slightly wider to allow cropping unless you check the screen which is not always possible.

Finally Hilary I would consider moving your 'watermark' to different locations within your images to a less distracting POV and reduce the size and capacity. To be honest it does not deter people steeling images and cloning out any © information as a website has recent stollen a lot of my images and removed the watermarks etc!!!

Steve

[Hilary Hann]

Hi Hilary

Techs already covered and does illustrate why we all need to check settings & histogram.
To be honest it does not deter people steeling images and cloning out any © information as a website has recent stollen a lot of my images and removed the watermarks etc!!!

Steve

Ouch! Not very nice behaviour.

Thanks for the comments … all taken on board as always. Agree with cutting off some of the top, still not convinced on the lhs but I've had a nice glass of wine so now isn't the time to reprocess it! :D

Harshad, I like your crop very much and I think you and I must be thinking along the same lines here. I'll give it a try on the raw image later. Thank you. :)

[Hilary Hann]

I went back to look at the original image because of the comments re the contrast being too high. I experimented with the clarity slider in raw and have overdone it here. My personal tastes go more for the contrast rather than the bland so perhaps I need to control that perspective. :(

[Steve Kaluski]

Ouch! Not very nice behaviour.

Sorry Hilary, wasn't trying to be rude, it was meant to be more of a general note, as others who have recently posted too, have made silly errors in their settings apparently :D :D:D

However, it is all part and parcel of photography, the question is as to where we notice it and are able to correct it in time to get the right shot?

Just had a very quick play, perhaps some tweaks in the Exposure might help too, but revisiting the RAW is your best bet. Also moving your © text away from the feet I think does improve the overall concept and it works IMHO, happy to remove if you want me too. ;)

Steve

[Steve Berkowitz]

I like the re-post better. Steve, I think the bad behaviour comment was aimed at the copyright thieves, not you. Steve

[Danny J Brown]

Hilary - I think Steve did a great job to bring out the best of your wonderful image. The new watermark looks great as well. I always move my watermark around to find the best spot on each image. Also, I wanted to mention, regarding Steve's comment about watermarks, that sometimes I find my images on different websites but the watermark isn't cloned out so even though people used it without permission, at least my name is still on it and maybe somebody will contact me or look at my website. That is why I always use a © watermark even though I know it isn't a true protection of the image.

DB

[Hilary Hann]

Steve, I was talking about the copyright thieves not your comments on my image. :)

I'm always grateful for suggestions and I'll make changes to the copyright because it is all part of presenting your work effectively.

As far as the techs go, I do check my histograms but the sheer beauty and majesty of the wilderness takes my breath away and then I forget all my training.

[Hilary Hann]

Steve, I meant to say that I really liked your repost, thank you.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Hilary Fine looking image ! Only wish light was not as harsh, dark shadow does detract from overall image, do like re-post by Steve .. and the little room will not alter mood, just taste ... don't like anything that tight against the edge !!

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I agree with the comments. The shadows feel a bit deep. I won't increase the aperture so much as it starts getting soft, and the dust spots become visible. A higher shutter speed and more details in the image would have been nice.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Hilary Hann]

Better late than never, have revisited this cat and worked her a little more with shadows/highlights and gave her some more room on the left. No room on the bottom, but have cropped a bit off the top. Interested if anyone thinks this is an improvement. Oh, I've reduced the copyright as well.:D

[Steve Kaluski]

It's getting there Hilary, doesn't look that sharp now?

I think your © is too small, the size I suggested I think is fine, it just needs to be taken down in opacity and not knock the viewer over. :p

[Hilary Hann]

Steve I agree with the sharpness but I was trying not to overdo it so perhaps I've gone too far the other way. I'll get the copyright eventually! :D