CheetahScape

[Morkel Erasmus]

I am off to the Drakensberg mountains for some R&R and hopefully some fruitful landscape photography...so excuse my absence from the forum this coming week! :e3

I'll leave you with this cheetahscape before I leave...I don't think this'll be everyone's cuppa.
Also - it needs to be viewed at higher resolution to "get it" IMHO.

Anyway - your thoughts, as always, are most welcome! :bg3:


I found 2 male cheetahs north of Nossob in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park one morning in November 2011 at very first light (about halfway to Cubitje Quap waterhole). This is one frame from that sighting.


Techs:
Nikon D3s with Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II + 1.4xTC @ 700mm
f5.6 @ 1/640 SS @ ISO-1600
full frame image
handheld through the opposite window of the vehicle

[Tom Graham]

I like it a lot. The side light "spot lighting" the cheetah is special. The subject cheetah being the brightest, most contrast, and sharpest part of the image. The surrounding landscape including the tree, and its green color contrast, all adds up. More than another cheetah head portrait.
Tom

[dankearl]

I like this a lot also, A very nice Landscape image, it is nice to see the "big" picture.
I would just tone down the brush highlight on the lower left in front of the Cheetah.

[gail bisson]

This is really nice Morkel. I like the lighting very much. Beautiful earth tones colors and feeling of warmth,
Gail

[Sid Garige]

Killer image Morkel. Not often we get to see animalscape images.
PS: Inspired by your habitat series I got a 70-300mm L for my next trip. Hoping to make few bearscape images.

[Rachel Hollander]

Morkel - really like this too. Sweet morning light and tones. Comp works well. In addition to the area Dan mentioned I would tone down the specular highlight/end of branch on the tree trunk.

Looking forward to seeing the results of your upcoming week.

TFS,
Rachel

[laurie golden]

It's my cuppa. Love the watercolor look to this.

[Ken Watkins]

Morkel,

Very nice indeed, I like the fact that you have almost all of the tree:w3

Certainly agree with Tom's comment "More than another cheetah head portrait"

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Morkel
congrats to this beautiful landscape shot ,i like it this kind of positioning the main subject in one corner of the frame.I think you should have better removed the TC to make it even wider.The colors ,the contrast and the rest look almost perfect,to me.The look of the cheetah into the open space just beautiful.
Would love to go again to the park,long time ago that i have been there.

[Steve Kaluski]

An arresting image Morkel, like the minimal approach and diagonal line, cool, nice warm light too. :cheers:

TFS
Steve

[vikram potdar]

Remarkable capture. The BG full tree adds value to the image. TFS

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Mork, I liked this the moment I opened it. The placement of the cheetah is spot on, and great that you framed the tree ULC. Yep, the light and colours all work well too.

[Egil Droge]

I like it! Good composition and very nice light. The only thing distracting me is the green bush in the right of the frame.

[Harshad Barve]

Awesome image Morkelbhai , Light in insane
TFS

[Dumay de Boulle]

I love the idea and the space, the tree in the top left corner balances the comp well...Nicely done mate!

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks for the very kind feedback, everyone! Glad you liked it. I am back and rearing to get stuck into the images posted this past week...:5


Killer image Morkel. Not often we get to see animalscape images.
PS: Inspired by your habitat series I got a 70-300mm L for my next trip. Hoping to make few bearscape images.

I cannot wait to see them, Sid!! :bg3: