Safari

[Brendon Cremer]

1/160sec at f4.0
ISO 320
Flash Fired
Manual
Center-weighted average
Canon 40D
Canon 70-200 F4 L USM

This is the old female leopard, from my last post, you can see her blind eye more clearly here. It is quite impressive that she has managed to sustain a good life with only one eye. She is no longer a territorial female and tends to be quite nomadic, however never strays too far from her old territory:S3:

[Stu Bowie]

Brendon, good to see the old girl again. This was the first leopard I saw on my first and only trip to Sabi todate.

[Steve Canuel]

Impressive indeed given the need for predators to have good depth perception. The pose, lighting, and BG makes this look like a professional studio portrait of a family pet :bg3: Any idea how she was blinded and how long she's been like that?

[Brendon Cremer]

Hi Steve, shes been blind in that eye for about 10 years now, there are lots of theories as to how it happened but no one really knows, my thoughts are probably got damaged in a fight with another leopard, she had young cubs at the time.

[Nancy Bell]

Very interesting story. She must be one tough survivor. This is an excellent portrait of this unique girl.

[Hilary Hann]

Extraordinary image of what must be a quite extraordinary leopard. Shows the damaged eye very well, I must say it looks uncomfortable. I love the golden glow in the background, gives the photograph a wonderful feel.

[Rachel Hollander]

Brendon - nice portrait of a Sabi legend. I like the glowing light behind but am not a fan of the flash reflection in the good eye.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Canuel]

Brendon,
Thanks for the tidbit of her history.

[Brendon Cremer]

Thanks all. She is indeed a legend! Rachel, agreed many people dont like catch lights in eyes ans many will remove them, personally i like them i feel it adds life and depth to the eye and image:w3

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nice portrait of a legend here Brendon! Gotta love that background...I wonder how long she's got left? :bg3:

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Ohhh poor baby. Great image and story behind it. Thanks for sharing.

[Harshad Barve]

Very interesting story and image
TFS

[peter delaney]

Hi Brendon

I think Safari is a remarkable leopard to have survived so long... we can only sumised as to how she lost the eye... could have been to much flash lol..:S3:

As for the image , regardless of the fact it may no be easy viewing. I find that very few images look good with flash the only ones I can think off hand was Steve Winters Amour leopard... that worked beautifully..

but this image for me is to cold and the use of flash too evident with blown whites in bad eye ,lip and tongue.. .
not sure if there is blue cast to whites or not as viewing on laptop..

I know its difficult getting the right BKG for a subject but I find the OOF branch intersecting the ear and RHS and the different shades of foliage really pulls the viewers eye...

sorry to be the only one with a different critique but I call it as i see it :S3:
I too have a couple of images of Safair but i just took them for keepsake/record .