Little Mombo Leopard

[Grant Atkinson]

Canon 7D, Canon 70-200f2.8is, handheld. S/speed 1/500 at f/4.0, iso500. Ai servo, evaluative metering. Early morning. Leopard cub photographed at Mombo camp, Botswana. This cub's mother had an impala kill stored overhead in the tree, and the cub was looking up at it. All c and c welcome
cheers
Grant

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

[peter delaney]

beautiful image.. might just tone down bright green patch bottom RHS

[Harshad Barve]

Grant

This is simply outstanding image . Pose of cub makes this Grand
TFS

[Dumay de Boulle]

Lovely pose with massive cuteness factor...I like the perch and reasonably clean BG...Nicely done Grant

[Grant Atkinson]

Thanks for the comments guys. I need to have a go at the Lumo mask technique used by Robert and Morkel on the highlights on the RHS..
Much appreciated.
cheers
Grant

[Roger Clark]

Grant,

Beautiful image. Really nice light, especially how the cub's face is lit up. I would do a little darkening (burning) of the brighter green grass to the right of the cub because I feel it would help as it seems to draw attention away from the cub, especially the bright grass just above the branch.

Was this shot from the top of the safari vehicle? Could you have gotten lower?

Leopard cubs are one thing I've hoped to see and photograph. I'll just have to go back and try again. Congratulations on not only seeing one, but up close in such spectacular light.

Roger

[Shreyas Mantri]

An absolute delight to see this image, Grant!
Priceless expression on the cub's face/eyes.

TFS

[Pieter de Waal]

This must have been a very young cub, Grant. Not easy to get them in the open like this, well done. I like the expression and pose. Bright green area has been mentioned.

[Grant Atkinson]

Thanks for the comments Shreyas, Pieter and Roger. About your question of height, Roger, I was shooting from door height of an open Land Rover. The branch the cub was sitting on came up above my eye level and the cub later climbed up but when I took this image I was looking down on it..
This is a cub belonging to the well-known leopard Legadima, that was filmed for the movie Eye Of The Leopard
Thanks for looking
cheers
Grant

[Hilary Hann]

Grant, it has all been said, but it is a beautiful leapard cub portrait. You have shown off those lovely big paws very nicely.

[Grant Atkinson]

Hilary, thanks for the comment and for looking..
Here is the repost with the bright area on the RHS toned down somewhat
thanks all for the advice

[Hilary Hann]

Well handled. Looks pretty good to me.

[Robert Amoruso]

I like the repost Grant.

[Stephen Earle]

This repost rocks Grant. The light is great and such a special subject

[Steve Kaluski]

Love the precarious pose & gaze of the cub here Grant., nicely positioned within frame. Repost is better.

Eye of the Leopard - great documentary, great directors, would love to meet them one day. :S3:

TFS
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hey Grant

You know I love this one! Super cute, super light.

I hope you don't mind...to my eye it has a slight green and yellow cast throughout (if the yellow is due to the light, you would know so tell me :S3:)

I did a quick adjustment in "color balance" - applied these to all 3 tonal ranges (highlights, midtones, shadows):
cyan/red = +2 (red)
magenta/green = -2 (magenta)
yellow/blue = +2 (blue)

interested to have your thoughts?

[Rachel Hollander]

Grant - what a cutie and a great pose too. I love the use of the log as your bottom edge. Morkel's repost looks spot on to me but as he said, you would know the actual lighting. I'm totally envious of this shot. I have not seen leopard cubs yet.

TFS,
Rachel

[Gen Benjamin]

What's not to love, beautiful light, fantastic pose, and an adorable cub. i think the repost with the tone done looks fantastic.
Gen

[Grant Atkinson]

Thanks for the repost Morkel, your colour work looks to have nailed it....i will sort out on my original post. Apologies for my absence from the thread, been a bit busy and had no internet for a day. thanks for taking time to look and comment Gen, Rachel, Stephen, Robert and Steve..much appreciated.

[tiziano cei]

great one, so sweet this cub :c3:

[Lorant Voros]

I can see the hunter spirit in his eyes. Very expressive picture and great repost.

Lorant

[Morkel Erasmus]

no problem Grant :)

[Michael Stern]

Unbeliveable Wonderful Image!! I can only dream of getting!
Best,
Michael

[Grant Atkinson]

Thanks for looking and commenting Tiziano, Michael and Lorant..much appreciated.
cheers
Grant