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Thread: Jaguar

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    Default Jaguar

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    I recently returned from a wonderful trip to the Pantanal in Brazil. One of my main goals was to photograph jaguars. I was amazed to see jaguars every day we went out on the boat! In the area of the Three Brothers tributary on the Cuiaba River, the jaguars have inadvertently become habituated to people by the fishermen who have been leaving their fishy remains on the shores for years and years. Viewing this jaguar were 8 smallish, open boats of thrilled tourists drifting in front of him. For the most part the jaguar simply dozed or watched for capybara on the opposite shore.

    It was a challenge most of the time to photograph the jaguars because we always saw them on side of the river with the sun to their backs, making the sun in our faces! This put the cats in blotchy shade most of the time. Of course this is the best position for them, keeping the sun out of their eyes and taking advantage of their spotted coat in the blotchy sunlight. Often there was also vegetation partially hiding the cat. Still I took loads of images and marveled at such magnificent animals.

    Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 400 f4 DO IS, 1/200, f5, exp. comp. +2/3, ISO 2000

    c & c most welcome.

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    Nancy, great sighting! Am sure your day was made (all your days in fact!) Very nice details and good colours. Wish I could see the rest of the body and tail, even if it was partially covered by foliage, but no deal breaker and the eye contact makes up for it. Looking forward to more from your trip.

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    Thank you Sanjeev. There was vegetation partly in the way, but also I was just too close with the 400 lens to capture any more of the jaguar.

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Great sighting indeed Nancy!

    Lovely image, you handled the lighting conditions very well! There is a bit of a magenta cast on the nose, ears, under the paws and on the belly. The crop is great and I love to see the lovely patterns on the fur, nice detail on the face and I like the eye contact there-what a stunning subject to photograph!

    Kind regards,

    PS Have you got any Capybara shots?
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Lifetime Member Marc Mol's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nancy Bell View Post
    I was amazed to see jaguars every day we went out on the boat!.
    Green with envy on this one Nancy, especially the frequency of sightings!
    The Pantanal is on my list, and very keen on a revisit since the last time back in '93, certainly NO jaguars then.
    However it appears to me that the detail is not quite there, the extra sharpening on the head seems to indicate this? Was this a large crop or perhaps the focus off slightly?
    Nonetheless an amazing experience all the same!
    TFS


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    Marc, not sure about the sharpening you comment on. Possibly I over-sharpened? I was quite close, approximately 20 ft.
    Gabriela, thanks for the comment on the magenta cast. I'll check it out. And yes, I have capybara shots and will post soon.

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    To me, a Jaguar sums up everything a big cat should be! Thanks for sharing this amazing encounter.

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    Lifetime Member Andre Pretorius's Avatar
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    Hi Nancy

    This is an old cat that has seen everything! The pose is very relaxed with your close proximity.

    Took the liberty to do Saturation layer and bringing down Magenta and Blues.

    WDYT?
    Regards

    Andre.

    www.gappimages.com

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Hi Nancy, love the casual pose and eye contact, and I quite like the full frame comp. Andre's repost removing the magenta cast works well.

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    Nancy it must have been a great thrill getting so close to this magnificent animal ,bet you where very pleased I know I would be.
    Agree , Andre's repost removing the magenta cast works well.

    Keith.

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    Fine encounter this one !
    Like the way its directly looking at you.
    I feel that the face region is a bit too aggressively sharpened.

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    Super job Nancy, LOVE the character of his face and the his eyes.
    It does look a little oversharpened to me. But he also looks like he's been swimming and wet so I see how it's very difficult.

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    Hi Nancy - what a sighting. And to be this close with a 400mm on a FF camera! Awesome.

    Did you select the background and apply NR, or blur. I think you did it very well, but perhaps a little too much. Just looks a tad too smooth for me, and the margin between subject and BG is visible around the ears. Unless the 400mm DO renders softer backgrounds than I'm used to in which case I'll just keep quiet!!

    Hope to make it there some day.

    Ed

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    Thank you all! This was indeed quite a fabulous experience. I'll post more images. I very much appreciate everyone's comments and suggestions and will go back to the drawing board to fine tune this image. Thank you Andre for your repost. This helps. Ed, you are right about the bkgd being too smooth. All my doing in pp. I really do not like bkgd details intruding even if that is how it is and can be too aggressive . Rachel has been helping me as well so hope my pp improves!

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    BPN Member Anette Mossbacher's Avatar
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    Hi Nancy, great sightings indeed, when I go over there I will contact you first

    Andre did a great job with removing the color casts. Sharpening for me to much on the head, but said already. Do you have any images of a Jaguar full size ?

    Have a great eve

    Ciao
    Anette

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Nancy, late to the party here (my apologies, busy weekend!)
    Great to see your Pantanal images (I hope you post many more ), and this species is a bucket-list dream for me to tick off one day.
    I think you did well given your light/exposure constraints (and foliage - they tend to be elusive and remain in the bushes, no?). Your OP has some colour casts which Andre has nicely taken care of in his RP.
    Overall I think you can pull back on the blacks a bit - they feel a bit dense/choked up?
    Morkel Erasmus

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    BPN Viewer Steve Canuel's Avatar
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    Such stout looking cats, love the patterns on the torso.

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    Wow, I thought no one ever sees these guys any more! Nancy, great sighting and capture. Love the eyes and the details on the face. I think you handled the lighting well given the conditions. I'm on the iPad do can't comments on the colors, but Look like you could use a second bobby with a 70-200. Would like to send you a PM to learn more about the trip. Loi

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    Loi, I'll look for your PM. Glad to share the details.

    Thanks, Annette, Morkel and Steve!

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