Leopard - the poser

I spent the afternoon with this leopard as he meandered along the river bank. He gave me a few photo ops but nothing that special. When darkness began to fall, the other two vehicles moved off and I was left contemplating whether I could push my ISO any higher.

Eventually, he came out and made a straight line to this tree, hopped up and lay out on this branch. It was as if he said "and now, your reward for waiting"! He was raised up a bit so I could actually reduce my ISO as he was 'lit' by the sun's afterglow. It was, to all extents and purposes, dark by this point, but I took a lot of shots and some were sharp.

I also have some with the 70-200 as the environment was nice too. May post later. My issues with this image are its 'plain-ness' (which to some may be its strength) but would appreciate any suggestions to liven it up a little. Many thanks.

Canon 1DX, 500mm f4 @ f4, ISO 3200, 1/125sec. Post processing minimal except contrast and highlights/shadows work.

On another note, I'm sorry for my long absence: I've been leading back-to-back photographic safaris since mid-Aug and then I spent 5 weeks guiding a film crew in North Luangwa NP filming lions for National Geographic. Been a busy dry season. I have a similar schedule for next year, and hopefully more private guide work than this year, so I may be a seasonal participant if that is permitted....

I have looked through most of the images that I missed, but most are now 'finished' so not much value in commenting, but I'm catching up on the recent ones. I'm liking a lot what I see. Thanks for sharing beautiful shots from all over the world.

Ed

This is a very nice image Ed, I like the framing, the clean/clear surroundings and the dark BG makes the subtly lit leopard stand out nicely. TFS. And welcome back to the forum.

Ed............I might never post a leopard image after this...This is so, so, so good. Welcome back to BPN!

I would print this and hang it on my wall if I were you. Nothing plain about this image and you are being so modest, my friend:S3: I love everything about it and especially the colours, not to mention the relaxed pose from this young leopard with his beautiful features and that lovely pink nose:) Amazing detail at 1/125s, nice and sharp, well framed and presented, ticks all the boxes for me - congratulations Ed:cheers:

Warmest regards,

Hi Ed welcome back to here .
Stunning image to start with specially the techs given .
Nice overall mood and color /tone in the lights and mid tones . For the image is just carrying to much of black , it is giving a nice tonal depth in some tones but i think the shadows and dark mid tones are somehow a bit too dark.
Nice framing and cool pose of the subject .
As i am a plain german i do not understand the " plain ness " in context , can someone please translate for the good old german to understand , would be great folks.

TFS Andreas , ps hope you are happy with the newer toy :w3

Always great to see posts from you, Ed.
Love this - the soft light, the elevated setting, the subject popping from the darker BG - I'd be happy with this any day.
And you did well with the slow SS - as I understand you can push the 1DX a bit more on ISO next time though :w3

Love the pose here with wonderful dark BG here Ed. Not worried about the dark tones in the least and for me makes this image.

I saw you at the SL main gate just a few weeks ago, you were busy with clients by the looks of things.:w3

Mwaleshi/North Luangwa was very dissapponting for me, arrived not long after the 2 torrential days of rain late Oct and naturally the game was very dispersed, no lions in 6 days there.

Hi Ed, lovely image in soft light. The tree trunk on the right corner is drawing my attention, perhaps darken it a tough would help. Loi

Hi Ed - Welcome back! Simply stunning pose and well framed. It all works for me too.

TFS,
Rachel

Hi guys - thanks for the welcome back!

Grateful for the feedback. Really like this image and maybe just spent too much time on it and began to see some shortcomings, when actually it's fine.

Andreas - when I say plain-ness, I mean that it is almost too simple in its composition that it's just another portrait of an animal. I guess perhaps some more colour in the bg or a little bit of twisted bark on the fg branch might have been what I was looking to bring out. Now, with your suggestions, I'm happy to like it for its simplicity.

Thanks!

Ed

And yes, I am learning about 1DX. It's an amazing bit of kit, if a bit pricey! Good things always are.

ISO 3200 is really very good, 6400 starts to show some grain. By the time I took this shot, I'd already taken a lot of quick shots at 6400 and 10000. Then the adrenalin started to settle, the cat didn't move so I settled the camera better, lowered the ISO and took some more shots to get a higher quality image. The 6400 and 10000 shots are fine, but this is the one I posted because of the pose etc, rather than because the noise in the image was a problem in the others.

Ed

Hi Ed thanks for german translation , now i got you , i would be more than happy to have this shot in my collection , as i stated in numerous Leopard postings from all you guys , i really never saw a Leopard at "close" range or for longer than a minute or two in an open area. All my encounters has been quick ones or far off or hidden under not ideal circumstances.

I just had a short discussion with someone about this kind of stuff regarding image manipulation :w3, he will know when he follows this thread .

Thanks again Andreas

Top class image with amazing IQ and perfect tree. The light Leopard pops really well from the BG....Post card stuff.... Very nice.

I love everything about this image and would have loved if it was mine. The leopard really pops out against the background. Congratulations!

Hi Ed, the simplicity of the image just makes it such a stunner. Love the contrast of colour L to R and being darker throws the subject out well. You will love the 1DX, but I would personally avoid using Contrast. There is a lot to understand, so keep reading the manual. :S3: Thanks for taking the time to post and more importantly to comment, much appreciated.

TFS
Steve

Hi Ed

This picture is a smal juvel, so shiny and beautiful. I love it. The leopards light colors contrasts so good against that darker background.

:S3:

TFS / Gregor