Cheetah

[Rachel Hollander]

Another image I revisited. Taken on my 2009 trip to the Sabi Sands in South Africa. Hopefully the color on this one is better. Thanks to Steve for his patience in walking me through the color settings for DPP, CS5 and monitor again.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 160mm
1/800
f8
ISO 400
HH from safari vehicle, annoying branch removed, s/h and levels adjustment, selectively sharpened in CS5, cropped a little from rhs for comp.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, I really like this, the posture, environment & light, in addition the eye level of the Cheetah with the horizon too, good spot. :w3 I don't think the branches over the front legs or over the tail is a deal breaker, but other will perhaps have other thoughts. The head does look a little 'crunchy' & that is perhaps down to a little too much USM, perhaps you could get Dumay or Stuart B to help with the sharpening process :bg3: OK the 50D has limitations, but if this was shot with your 7D, well...

I think your perseverance is slowly paying off and I feel this is one of your best posts here in Wildlife as I know you are doing well in other areas on the Forum too.

Congrats Rachel. :cheers::cheers:

TFS
Steve

[Ofer Levy]

I like this. Light, colour, sharpness, detail, composition - all look good to me.

[Sid Garige]

Rachel,

Very nice image. Excellent details and sharp.

-Sid

[Grant Atkinson]

All good for me, Rachel, and colours look spot on :S3:well done
grant

[peter delaney]

ohhhhhhh my Rachel........ I like it very much!!!:S3:

[Morkel Erasmus]

This is certainly one of your best posts here in Wildlife, Rachel!! Love the pose, light and setting...details are awesome. Agree on the head being slightly too "crunchy" (a la Steve), but easy to fix.
:cheers:
:5

Was the cheetah patrolling territory or scouting for prey?

[Rachel Hollander]

Thank you all for the very kind comments. I'll dial back the selective sharpening on the head a tad.

Morkel - he had just woken up and seemed to be checking out the area. He marked the tree immediately before this. He then stretched and wandered around a bit. He's the same cheetah that I posted a while back rolling on the ground.

Thanks again,

Rachel

[Brendon Cremer]

Lovely image, great colours, light, comp and detail, very nice image:S3:

[Harshad Barve]

Excellent image Rachel , love the pose , colors and details ,
TFS

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Brendon and Harshad for the kind comments.

Rachel

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Rachel this is a beautiful image, love the colours of cheetah and detail but what make this for me is the lovely scene in the background and the composition. :cheers::cheers:

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Vivaldo, much appreciated.

[Steve Kaluski]

I'll dial back the selective sharpening on the head a tad

Hi Rachel, to my knowledge there is only one route/technique where you can reduce the amount of sharpening on a sharpened layer file, other than that you may need to go back several stages I'm afraid.

Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Here it is with less sharpening/less crunchy. Please let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Personally I am more comfortable with this now Rachel, however others may have other thoughts. :w3

[Morkel Erasmus]

Looks good Rachel!

[Rudi van den Heever]

Great image in great light! Definitely a keeper!:S3:

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Steve, Morkel and Rudi.

[Steve Canuel]

Nice one Rachel. I like the pose and how the image is divided by sky, land, and tree. Also like the shadow on the tree, looks like another cheetah trying to peek around for a view.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Steve