A new day is yawning.
There's nothing like a magic green season to make this beautiful male leopard really pop from the BG!
I had more amazing sightings in Ruaha NP with 7 different leopard in 13 days, considering it was green season with the grass over 1M in a lot of areas, I was indeed very fortunate.
Could have taken a slice off the RHS, but love my 2:3 crop ratio too much.
D4 500 f/4 VR 1/1600s f/5.6 ISO1600 almost F/F. Reduced the exp on the FG vegetation RHS.
Ruaha NP- Tanzania.
C & C most welcome.
Cheers
Marc
Hi Marc, beautiful shot of an elusive cat! Love the stretching and the yawning pose. The image looks a little bit on the cool side and the Green may be a touch too green, but I have never been in Africa during the Green season, so need to defer the colors to the experts. TFS. Loi
Hi Marc - Nice stretching/yawning pose of the leopard and placement in frame. I think the room on the right is fine but find the taller oof stalk distracting. I do wish for more dof to have the leopard's body in focus as well. If it were mine I would darken the greens.
TFS,
Rachel
Great pic - wow, those whiskers are LONG! Beautiful pose of this elusive cat.
I think the composition is fine as is. Always easy to look back afterwards but f/8 would have been a better option to get the full body in focus (you've had a little ss spare at 1/1600 so it was feasible).
I love close ups so I would have been tempted to have a 2nd version of this - cropping right in to get a closer look at those beautiful eyes!
Love the pose, vibrant colours and soft light here Marc!
I would take some off the RHS to remove that OOF foliage ;)
Appreciate the comments folks, many thanks.
LoiOriginally Posted by Loi Nguyen
I actually took down the green a little and warmed up the image, look at the soil colour.
It's not called the Green season for nothing, it really is an amazing time to go with the light being far more forgiving, you could get away with shooting up till 10.00am in favourable conditions
Hi Marc, like the behavioural aspect on this one, likewise the framing. The rich grass gives a nice vibrancy to the overall image and is an integral part. You could perhaps have gone to say f/8 for a little more DoF for the Cheetah, however it's not a deal breaker in my book. The darkish green, OOF stem is a bit unfortunate and probably not noticed in the viewfinder, easily done, however addressing the top part is very easy and does make a difference avoiding any cropping and looks 'natural' too which is a bonus. As presented, cropping some of the RHS I doubt would make a big difference to the overall image, so I feel it's fine.
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Thanks Steve
The FG OOF veg was actually a light tone and really stood out, perhaps I've toned it down too dark in hindsight?? I might investigate this again.
Hi Marc
Stunning moment captured! An image with emotion.
Where was your focal point, nose or eyes?
Agree with DOF and some pruning.
Greens looks like Zululand after rains!! Can be problem for someone not knowing the area.
Great capture.
Andre
Hi Marc!
What a great capture, and it looks to me like this leopard is trying to swallow his own whiskers
So vivid and delightful, this relaxed leopard stretching in front of the camera - beautifully processed, I like the green vegetation with dew drops, I like everything, save that OOF grass, just the very tall one - not too difficult to clone out the top part, I think? Congratulations on yet another stunning image, Marc!!!
Warmest regards,
Gabriela Plesea
...forgot to say I just love the title
Gabriela Plesea
Maybe lose a little from top right? Otherwise awsome shot of this majestic fellow!
Welcome back Marc. This is a super shot. Like you, I favour the 3:2 crop ratio but I do think that in this case it would have been beneficial to crop so that you lost the darker out of focus foliage on the bottom right.
Hi Marc,
hope you had a great trip and loads of images to share.
Great pose of the Cheetah
Great colors and overall tones , would have been great to have the whole cat in focus and sharp , but what can you do, nothing i think.
Would not change the crop .
TFS Andreas
Hi Marc,
lots said already, The pose is great and reminds me that I should jump into the feathers now.
Wonderful image, I like the colors and light very much. Agree with the branch on the RHS.
have a great eve
Ciao
Anette
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