Snow Leopard Cub (C)

[Rachel Hollander]

Another image of one of the snow leopard cubs from the Central Park Zoo. This is one of the rare moments where one of them stayed still for a few seconds.

Canon 5D3
70-200 II @ 175mm
1/400
f5
ISO 1600
HH through glass, cropped for comp, luminosity mask, levels, curves, selective color adjustments and sharpened in CCPS.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Beautifully captured, Rachel! Crystal sharp where it counts most! Would have given anything to have read its thoughts at this moment...

[Gabriela Plesea]

This is a beauty Rachel, I cannot think of a better crop, love the natural colours here as well as general presentation, very thoughtful processing. The cub's face (sharp where needs be) stands out so nicely against the softness of the fur, I like to see the patterns there and so glad you did not crop too tight. Lovely movement captured as well as expression on the cub's face, congratulations!

Warmest regards,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel,
this even better than the previous Snowie.
Thinking you shot through glass , very good !!!! IQ .Great tonal range you have extracted from this.Would like to see that , in some other images from you, can i have hope ? You know i like it a bit more punchy, LOL.
Very often you say to some folks tame the HL , in this case i would , just slightly darken the HL .PLus i would watch for the blues in the BG and parts of the cat. But no big deal.The snow patch just behind the head is leading my eyes to the BG, i know it is not easy to solve to make it look pleasing , but with some careful masking possible , i think.

Really nice for a Zoo shot. .
Cheers Andreas

[Thinus Schoeman]

Hi Rachel, this a super image all round, and the facial area is very sharp with great detail. I love the different contrasts in this image between the light and dark areas. Congratulations!
Thinus

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everybody for the kind comments. Andreas - you know that I generally don't like as much contrast as you .

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Rachel, what a beauty! Amazing that this image was shot thru glass. Had you not told us, we could not have guessed. Love the sharpness and details of the face and the fur around the face and of course the sparkling eye. The only element that I find a bit distracting is the snow patch right above the cub, but there is not much you can do about it. TFS. Loi

[Morkel Erasmus]

Love the pose here, Rachel - amazed at the clarity you got shooting through the glass!
An all-white BG (snow) would have been a nice gift...

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Loi and Morkel. Morkel - snow doesn't stay white for very long in NYC.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, I like the look back posture, good detail considering this is shot through glass, they must keep it oh so clean, will little marks/scratches.

The snow in the BKG is an issue, especially the one brighter patch right by the eye, however nothing you could have done. Backing off the blacks and shadows does seem to help and reduces what I feel is a tad contrasty look. It also helps open the eye up in the corner. I agree with Andreas, knocking back the BKG helps and gives a bit more pop to the subject. I like the DOF as the fur drifts off to the RHS.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Steve, not sure about doing another lumo mask there because I already recovered the highlights slightly in ACR, ran a lumo mask at 55%, and then burned that one patch by the ear at 5%. I'll take a look though. The glass really isn't in great shape and you have to shoot from a dark covered area into the enclosure but the key is to shoot above all the little hand and nose prints on the glass.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, no need for another Lumo mask, you can select it in ACR and then adjust the Exp, highlights, shadows with the overall sliders in one go.

The glass really isn't in great shape and you have to shoot from a dark covered area into the enclosure but the key is to shoot above all the little hand and nose prints on the glass.

You should fix a little sign up there pointing this out LOL.

[dankearl]

Since this is probably my favorite animal, I like the photo.
Very nice for the circumstances and a nice pose.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Rachel, love the alert stare, and you have brought out excellent detail on the coat. You nailed the sharpness.

Its not easy capturing decent zoo shots due to the enclosures, and this is even better having shot through glass. The zoo keepers do a grand job there.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Dan and Stu

[Satish Ranadive]

Magnificent image of beautiful cat with lovely expressions. Just love the frame.

Regards,
Satish.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks for the very kind words Satish.

Rachel