leopard in storm

[Carole Deschuymere]

I had the most amazing sighting of a leopard in the Maasai Mara. We spotted him out in the open, relaxing on a kopje, when we noticed the sky was getting darker behind him. It was late afternoon so at one point we had the dark sky in the background, and the setting sun on the leopard. I was having a bit of trouble processing this image, because whatever I seem to do, it almost looks like it's not real. In this image I just added a little contrast, added a little saturation to the green (because it was too greyish) and burned the shadows a little on the ground. that's all. What do you think? is it too much? or does it need something else? Would really appreciate some feedback! canon 5D mark III , 500mm 1:4 L IS USM, iso 800, f/4, 1/500

[Carole Deschuymere]

o, I forgot to mention: I shot the image at 5200 temperature, but lowered it to 4800. I also added a little brightness

[Carole Deschuymere]

this is another one, that I gave some extras: selective colour: black +4 and neutrals - black +4

[Brendon Cremer]

Lovely sighting and image carol, i like the POV and the nice stare, the leopard slightly angled away from you is not a big issue as you can still see the face and eye nicely. I think your initial WB would work better or possibly something in between.The blacks a clipped quite a bit around the front legs and mouth, perhaps try pull these back a little from the original. The image looks like is lacking a little warmth and colour as well as a little more sharpness, below i added a little WD adjustment as well as some vibrancy and some USM.

Attachment 131859

[Brendon Cremer]

Definitely prefer the one with more eye contact Rachel.

[Markus Jais]

I like both shots a lot. Like Brendon, I prefer the one with the eye contact.
I like the composition and where you placed the cat in the frame.

Markus

[Loi Nguyen]

Great sighting and lovely subject. Brendon PP hit it for me. I thought the sky was over saturated, but you were there. Yes, prefer the pose with the eye contact.

Loi

[edwardselfe]

This is nice - the image quality is lacking a bit though, and not sure why. Should be sharp on a 5D3 with 500f4 and 1/500 as long as you were rested on something. It just looks a little blocky/muddy as if it's a slightly blurred from camera shake and you've sharpened to fix it. Beautiful composition and situation though.
Ed

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Carole - much prefer the one with the leopard turned toward you though I agree this doesn't have the IQ of some of your other posts. I also would back off on the blacks. Brendon's rp is the direction to go in.

Please note that we encourage people to post comments on at least 5 other images for each image they post to foster a sense of community and learning. It would be great if you would give your thoughts about other images.

TFS,
Rachel

[Carole Deschuymere]

both the images are pinsharp, but somehow it changes when I post it on this site. If I enlarge it to 100%, I can count the sharp hairs Thanks for you comment.

[Carole Deschuymere]

thanks Brendon, of course I like the one with the eye contact more. I was just working on the other one, and decided to post it, because whatever I learn here, I can apply it to all the images in this series. (and there are a lot!) I agree with the white balance, should be somewhere in between. I also agree about the blacks. So will give it another go. I would really like to enter one of this series in a competition, and want to make it perfect. I'll post the one in a few days. Another question: If I look in a magazine like National Geographic, a lot of the wildlife pictures show a lot of noise. Should I remove the noise or not, for such a competition?

[Carole Deschuymere]

Hi Rachel, thank you for your comment, I totally agree. I know, I just didn't have the time yesterday. I will post comments on other pictures immediately Kind regards, Carole

[Morkel Erasmus]

I like your 2nd pose better, Carole. Please note that guidelines state that reposts should be of the same frame, we prefer seperate images altogether to be posted in separate threads.
I also got the impression that the leopard may not be entirely in focus...since you are happy with the 100% RAW view it could only be something you could remedy in your processing workflow when it comes to sharpness for web. Remember that you need to sharpen after downscaling your photo!

Ditto Rachel on wishing you could find time to contribute more to the critique of others' photos, every fresh pair of eyes helps!

If I look in a magazine like National Geographic, a lot of the wildlife pictures show a lot of noise. Should I remove the noise or not, for such a competition?

I think many of the NG explorers use any ISO they can to "get the shot", that's certainly my approach. It could also be that some of those published are actually from film/trannies and could just be film grain.

[Shreyas Mantri]

What a healthy looking cat!
Would love to see more of the shots once the sharpening-for-web issue is sorted in your PP. I personally would like a mid-point in warmth of the OP and Brandon's RP, and certainly the eye-contact image makes it even more better!

TFS

[Tom Graham]

Prefer the one with eye contact.
Would like to see at least the front paws.
To my strange way of thinking the best images stand by themselves. That is, no explanation needed by the title. Unless it is for instructional purposes. What I'm trying to say is - without your title the sky simply looks off to me. Or, the storm is not obvious.
Tom

[Carole Deschuymere]

Thanks for your comment Tom. I get what you're saying, in these pics the storm isn't Obvious. I will post another picture where it's a lot more Obvious. that's exactly the problem I'm having with this series, I know how it looked in reality, and the sky was exactly like that. but I understand people might think the sky looks strange or off.

[Carole Deschuymere]

Thank you Shreyas. I agree with you on the warmth, somewhere in between. I will post another one of this series .

[Carole Deschuymere]

Thanks Morkel! I read the sticky again about the sharpening and posting for web. may have skipped a few steps Always in a hurry, not enough time for my pictures, especially now, since it's high season in my shop. But no excuse. my next post will be 'as it should' And I will certainly contribute more.