The elusive beauty of The Mara

[ramesh anantharaman]

Canon EOS ID Mk IV, 500mm f/4, @ 500mm, f/4.5, 1/320, ISO-640.

This young female walked from one patch of bushes to another patch about a kilometer away right in front of us in the open. This was the first sighting of the day and what a sighting to have!!! I was totally struck with awe, just looking at the confidence and shear splendour of this cat.

[Harshad Barve]

Absolute brilliant image this Ramesh :cheers::cheers::cheers:
Glad that she re-appeared next morning to pose for everyone in our group
TFS

[Brendon Cremer]

Lovely image and great sighting of a big female! Love the Bg and the eye contact, image looks a tad dark maybe lift the brightness a little or do some selective dodging on the leopard itself.:w3 I have added a RP below with a little added brightness and fill light, WDYT?

100491

[Rachel Hollander]

Great sighting out in the open. Love the pose with the curled tail. Nice separation from the pleasing bg.

TFS,
Rachel

[Pieter de Waal]

Nice image of this cat Ramesh, good eye contact captured and also like the curled up tail.

[Arthur Morris]

Ramesh, I like both versions because both are spectacular. What and animal and you did it justice. If it fits with your ethics you might wish to eliminate the yellow thing below the cat's belly and do just a bit of road clean up.

What does the T.A. mean under your name? Are you a member?

[Tom Graham]

Only more I could wish for would be to see the front paws.
Tom

[Steve Uffman]

Very nice pose and love the eye contact. like the colors as well....on my monitor, colors really look terrific and not too dark at all here. did not notice the thing Art mentioned until he mentioned it....funny how it became a bit more noticeable now.

[Brendan Dozier]

Beautiful looking cat, Ramesh, and great pose and eye contact! Good suggestions and very nicely done!

[ramesh anantharaman]

Hey Artie,

Thanks for the suggestions. was busy the the whole day yesterday. The T.A. are my initials, which my friends use to call me. And yes I am a lifetime member At BPN. Any particular reason for asking? I will surely try implementing the suggestions and put a repost on today.

[ramesh anantharaman]

Hello Artie and Brendon,

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. Brendon I see the brightness makes a difference here. thanks. thought i would rework the image myself once. Please do let me know if it works any better than the OP.

warm regards

T.A.

[Brendon Cremer]

Ramesh, your RP is superb, like it slightly lighter as you have done and the cleaner road is a huge improvement:w3

[Dumay de Boulle]

Repost is a winner...Nicely done, great IQ and eye contact

[Morkel Erasmus]

Late on this one - what a lovely leopard and what really fascinates me is how her spot pattern is different from most cats I have seen, yet all of them are unique in their markings but this one seems to have denser patterns and her build is also quite unique.

Your last repost rocks it! :cheers:

[Charles Glatzer]

Stunning image... love the raised paw and tail, but the stare puts it way over the top.

Print it large!

Best,

Chas

[Mark Wiseman]

What a magic background and pose. The curve in the leopards tail adds a wonderful effect to the image. She is a very large female leopard witha different pattern of which I have not seen, very black, the eye contact is good. Ramesh, your last post is much better, a stunning image.
:5