The lookout

[LauraDyer]

112837

I saw this cheetah, one of two sub-adults, in Phinda reserve in South Africa. The two youngsters were using the tree to play in, and to scan for potential prey.

f6.3, 1/800s ISO400 Beanbag and panning plate for support.
Canon 7D, 300mm lens with 1.4 converter.
All crits and comments are welcome, thanks!

[Dumay de Boulle]

Great light and comp, personally I would like to see a bit more sharpening on the Cheetah...Welcome to BPN, you will enjoy it here, great honest critiques and lots of help will be shared with you here.:S3:

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Laura, and a warm welcome to the Wildlife part of the Forum. I look forward to viewing your images and hope you will also participate in posting comments on other threads, as you will gain a lot from both sides of the fence and it's good fun, we don't bite either :S3:. If you need any help or advice just PM one of us.

Firstly I think by mistake you have posted the same image in twice, easily done first time around, however if you haven't read this I suggest you take time to do so, as there is some valuable information to hand. Also feel free to browse the additional areas of the Forum as there is a wealth of knowledge to be gleaned. It's always good to put as much information as you can with the image as it helps the viewer & feedback, again pointers are in the thread below.

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/87393-Please-Read-Before-Posting-The-First-Time-and-Then-From-Time-to-Time

I really like the red warm glow of the late afternoon light and the eyes have that perfect colouring to them. The crop and position with the subject is nice, however I might just lose a little/fraction off the RHS and would have preferred a bit more at the foot of the image as the paw is a little tight to the frame for me. I think you can pull out a bit more clarity/definition from within the image and run another round of USM on the Cheetah. Overall a good image to kick off with and look forward to more.

TFS
Steve :wave:

[Morkel Erasmus]

A big welcome from me too, Laura!! Glad you got sorted with registration and payment etc. :5
Feel free to also post something about yourself in the "Introduce yourself" thread HERE (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/forumdisplay.php/158-Introduce-Yourself).

Steve's link to detailed posting instructions will prove helpful - also take some time to read the "saving for web" threads (which you probably know how to do, just a good refresher with some specific details on how to save files optimally for this forum).

Gorgeous golden light here, with excellent framing of the cheetah using the tree. :cheers:
Would be good to know if you composed it like that in-camera or if you cropped (and if so, how much?).

[Rachel Hollander]

Laura - Welcome to BPN! Beautiful first post, love the light and comp.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Canuel]

Welcome.
Although a touch tight for me, I like the comp with the tree trunk on the right. Also like the warm color and light.

[Craig Kerr]

Welcome to BPN Laura, started with a cracking image. I like the composition, warm colours and great light quality.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Welcome to BPN
i am also just fresh on this forum.You will learn a lot if you want to.All the guys are really nice and most of the times very helpful,so keep posting images and post your thoughts about other images.

Like your opener ,in terms of comp,colors,nice smooth BG,detail but would,as Steve suggested, another round of sharpening on your main subject.

Cheers Andreas

[LauraDyer]

Thanks for your comments and constructive crits all. steve, I will resharpen, actually forgot to sharpen for web sizing when I exported. Wish I had more space below, was the first thing I noticed as I downloaded! I have cropped a slight bit from top, and right, mostly to balance out the slightly close crop on the bottom edge. Otherwise Morkel, yes, composed virtually as is, I would say 90% of original. Would have liked to reverse a bit before taking the shot, but these moments don't last long :)

The thing I liked most was the framing between the branches, a clean BG and finally some great light on a cheetah which I have struggled for! A challenge to get any catchlight in their eyes!

Thanks also for the welcomes everyone, look forward to posting and sharing with you all! (Thanks Morkel for the invite :) )

Repost follows after sharpening for web, slight crop etc as suggested:
112863

[Steve Kaluski]

Now that's much better Laura, and has taken it to where it needs to be.

Steve :S3:

[LauraDyer]

Cheers Steve!

[Morkel Erasmus]

Ditto Steve...glad you found your way around so far, Laura...if you are unsure about anything - you know where the PM button is :5

[Ken Watkins]

Laura,

Welcome, a great image to start with, and to think some people still like to tell you that Cheetahs do not climb trees!

[Harshad Barve]

Big welcome to the Wildlife part of the Forum
Awesome image to start with and looking forward to see many more
TFS

[LauraDyer]

Thanks Morkel, Ken and Harshad! glad to be here :)

[Grant Atkinson]

Looks pretty good on your last repost Laura, good work with this. If it were mine, I would still crop a fraction off the top and rhs, just enough to get rid of that small bright patch of sunlit bark in the top right corner of the frame. I hear what the others are saying about space, but I do find that little bright patch distracting...
Good shot to begin with.
cheers
Grant

[LauraDyer]

You have a well trained eye Grant! Thanks for your input, tend to agree on that patch, thanks!