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Thread: South African Cheetah, Kgalagadi

  1. #1
    Lifetime Member Markus Jais's Avatar
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    Default South African Cheetah, Kgalagadi

    Took this portrait in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in January during a raptor watching tour in South Africa.
    Taken from a car with a EOS 7D, 4/300L IS + 1.4x, f5.6, 1/320.

    The Cheetah was only a few meters away. It was with a few others and I think this was the mother. They were quite relaxed. It is amazing to be so close to a big cat.

    South Africa is a dream for nature photographers, raptor watchers and anything interested in wildlife. My favorite highlight was a juvenile Crowned Eagle only a few meters above me. I have to go back and spend some time with the big cats and the large eagles like the Crowned, Martial and African Black Eagles (Tip for the last species: Botanical Garden in Johannesburg).

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    Markus

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    BPN Viewer Steve Canuel's Avatar
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    Nice head on view of the facial markings, the claws, and those beautifully colored eyes. Don't mind the darkness of the overall shot, seems to accurately reflect the shade. I'd actually darken the upper portion to hide the upper cheetah's curving body. Probably just me, but it makes it look kind of odd, as if it's body is extra long and curved.

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    Hi Markus,

    Nice relaxed look in the eyes, they look a lot different when they don't want you so close!! I appreciate an image where the animal doesn't look agitated by the photographer's presence!!

    Regards,

    Riaan

  4. #4
    Ken Watkins
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    Markis,

    I like this although the slightly clipped paw and the BG are minor problems I find myself concentrating on the face which is a beauty.

    Good to see a dark image reflecting the actual light available to you rather than artificially enhancing it. Those eyes are perfect

  5. #5
    Robert Amoruso
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    Markus,

    I agree that not clipping the paw would have been a better outcome here.

    For a different take consider my repost.

    Two curves adjustment. One to lighten up the cat and one the darken the background.

    On the lightening curve, I painted black on the BG.

    On the darkening curve, I painted black on the cat.

    I sharpened the image somewhat as well.

  6. #6
    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Markus, lovely capture and perhaps the slight clipped paw was down to getting the focus on those eyes, and therefore we ALL can get side tracked and miss the more obvious things with hindsight. Robert, the RP has certainly taken it up a notch to where it needs to be and conveys again, how good the image was in camera and that some subtle PP work has not weakened it at all, but elevates it to now, a very endearing image. Good call on the Curves adjustments.

    TFS
    Steve
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    An awesome park and awesome cats, Markus. Love the eyes!

    Nice repost Robert...sharpening bordering on 'crunchy' on the nose for my tastes. I agree on lightening the cheetah. If we were to shoot everything with the "light available" and have dark images, then camera makers can just as well remove the spot metering mode from the camera .

    The point (for me at least) has always been to expose the tonal range correctly - ie having white whites and dark blacks, with nice even midtones. Obviously you cannot alter how the actual light hits the subject, but the job of the photographer is to 'manipulate' his tools (lens, camera, etc) to expose the subject correctly by sacrificing ISO/aperture/SS. In Markus' OP you can see it's too dark because the chest needs to be closer to white, and the midtones of the face are very dark. The reason we use sophisticated camera equipment is to be able to make the most of a scene like this. Given that the most of the BG is also in the shade, I would have shot this with +0.7 or even more exposure bias so that you don't have to brighten it in PP...
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Very good repost, those eyes are magical.

    TFS

  9. #9
    Lifetime Member Markus Jais's Avatar
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    Thanks for all the comments and suggestions and thanks to Robert for the repost. Very helpful.
    I really regret to have clipped the paw, I was too focused on the eyes.

    Markus

  10. #10
    Robert Amoruso
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    Quote Originally Posted by Morkel Erasmus View Post
    An awesome park and awesome cats, Markus. Love the eyes!

    Nice repost Robert...sharpening bordering on 'crunchy' on the nose for my tastes. I agree on lightening the cheetah. If we were to shoot everything with the "light available" and have dark images, then camera makers can just as well remove the spot metering mode from the camera .

    The point (for me at least) has always been to expose the tonal range correctly - ie having white whites and dark blacks, with nice even midtones. Obviously you cannot alter how the actual light hits the subject, but the job of the photographer is to 'manipulate' his tools (lens, camera, etc) to expose the subject correctly by sacrificing ISO/aperture/SS. In Markus' OP you can see it's too dark because the chest needs to be closer to white, and the midtones of the face are very dark. The reason we use sophisticated camera equipment is to be able to make the most of a scene like this. Given that the most of the BG is also in the shade, I would have shot this with +0.7 or even more exposure bias so that you don't have to brighten it in PP...
    Agree on the nose and saw that. Selective sharpening needed here.

    Expose Right is a good motto for Digital Photography. That way you have he most digital data to use in processing.

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