Leopard portrait

[gail bisson]

Canon 7D
F 2.8 70-200mm
ISO 640
F 4.5
SS 1/250
PP in LR3 and NR in CS5
This is almost full frame and I have about 5% on LHS and 10% on RHS to play with. I know this is an unusual composition and I wonder what you think of it. I love the leopards' direct gaze. I was in the front seat of the truck but lying on the floor to get as low as possible.
In shade and at 6:00PM
Comments and critiques always learned from and appreciated with thanks,
Gail

[Sid Garige]

Gail,

Perfect techs and great details. Personally I would have gone for a tight vertical crop to maximize attention. Some thing similar to this.

-Sid

[v.p.nurdeen]

Hi Gail,
I have to go with Sid on this one. Tight vertical crop is most effective.
VPN

[Harshad Barve]

I liked Sid's re post , lovely image
TFS

[Ofer Levy]

Both compositions work for me. However, I am not crazy about shots taken with such short lenses beacuse of the BG.

[Rachel Hollander]

Gail - I like both versions with a slight edge to the vertical crop. Perhaps another round of selective sharpening on the head on your OP though.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

I would be tempted to lose some space off the RHS to off-set the central position here, or run along the lines of Sid version Gail. Unfortunately even laying on the floor still gives the feeling of shooting down at the subject. Colour looks good, however as Rachel mentioned, a little selective USM on the face would help perhaps, but avoiding the whiskers.

TFS
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

Most of the comments/critique given address what I would have said, Gail. I find these shots hard to compose for myself, always wondering where to cut off and where to leave space :Whoa!:.
I like Sid's vertical suggestion, but might also go with the OP with a sliver cropped off the RHS. I agree that the face could be sharper as presented and I would tone down overall highlights for some "oomph" (though I know you tend to prefer images to be brighter than I do :w3).

I would do some selective dodging and burning on the face to add contrast.

[dankearl]

I think the pose is really nice and I like the OP.
I think is just needs some more contrast and some BG NR.
Not that it is noisy, just to smooth out the BG.
Lucky you to get this close.