Close encounters!

[Marc Mol]

My guide, Fadhil and researcher Socy and I could only dream that this young sub-adult male would take an interest in our vehicle and to think that he jumped up on our hood and then proceeded up to our open roof and peer down into our world was an unforgetable moment to savior, he came so close that he was biting my lens hood and then licked my fingers!! (I have an image of that, and if the mods will endulge me, I'll submit that later.)
He then jumped across our open roof to the rear closed section and started playing with the radio aerial.
Just an absolute privilege, he was as calm as we were and seemed to recognise that we were as interested in him as he was with us!
With a combination of the guides names, he became known as "Fadcy".
Over the next few days he jumped on our vehicle (and ONLY our vehicle) a further 2 times. Other spectators who witnessed this event said we "got lucky".......well, we must have got lucky 3 times.

Unlike adult females who sometimes use vehicles as a high vantage point to scan for prey, this sub-adult male would most likely grow out of this "inquisitive stage" of development and not seek this attention,
which is probably not such a bad thing as it could lead to unfavorable outcomes if it became a habit.

NB. There was no use of any remote devices such as CamRanger, Go Pro cam, BuggyCam, etc used to create this image, it was made with a good old hand held DSLR.

D700 24-70 f/2.8 1/1250s f/7 ISO200@ 24mm. Almost F/F taking out the roof edge, (so the cutoff legs are deliberate) enhanced the sky using Nik PL filter (Rachel, I'm not too concerned if you see a slight halo, happy to leave as is),
lightened the eye to where just a hint of noise may show, but tolerable to my eye, the rest is the usual levels, selective USM, etc in ACR/CC. Could I have lifted the exp 1/2 stop on the Cheetah?.....possibly, but was reluctant
to let noise creep in to the shadow areas.

Ndutu- Tanzania.

C & C most welcome

Cheers
Marc

[Andre Pretorius]

Wow Marc, what a moment captured!

Have newer even shot captured cheetah with 24mm, never mind a wild one!

As you open the image, the POV grabs you, the first part my eye focus on is the business end, then the eyes and then the sky.

Bit of blue in blacks @ nose and mouth.

Eyes are bit to bright, considering the light is behind him/her.

Love the teeth and tongue.

Exposure on body is perfect for me.

The comp adds to the close proximity of the image.

Man, you are SO lucky!!!!(3x)

Andre

[Mike Poole]

Absolutely stunning! Great experience and a quality result. From a technical aspect, a subtle brightening may help, but the last thing would be to make such a natural shot look false, so it would have to be slight.

Apart from that,my only other comment would be to make sure you get it printed and framed! Large!

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Marc,
this is great stuff, lucky you are………………..
Great story, greater view to the subject .Andre already covered the small color issues , i do see too.
I would open up the eyes to give them more life , like if you had a reflector with you.The rest looks good to me in terms of tonality and colors. The sky is nice too with these thin clouds , breaking up the pure blue.
I am curious asking why are you afraid of opening up shadows at 200 ISO , and with a Nikon, i thought there is no noise in Nikon cams .

You are soooooooo lucky , Marc .
TFS Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Marc, this is one fantastic sighting! No, let me reformulate this, one fantastic encounter! Brilliant stuff!

I would have probably shot this at ISO 400 but your settings worked here, since they gave you 1/1250s. Situation well handled and I would not mind another version with the paws in and the roof edge in sight, adds to the drama.

Very little if any noise with a Nikon at these settings, try and lift the exposure a tad and see what happens! How about a luminous layer on the cheetah's nose and eyes? What a beauty Marc, absolutely love it!

Kind regards,

[Gabriela Plesea]

Whoaaaa! In your face! Just brilliant, glad you enjoyed your close encounter and thank you for sharing

Kind regards,

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Marc - definitely a thrilling sighting. I still vividly remember having a mother cheetah climb on the hood/bonnet and then to the pop-top in the Mara on my first trip to Africa. As you said, she was searching for prey. I won't mention the slight halo along the leg. Great expression and the open mouth really takes this to another level. I do wish that you had either included the edge of the roof and paws or perhaps cropped even higher perhaps along the chest in a 16 x 9 format. Certainly seems like you had excellent sightings, keep the images coming.

TFS,
Rachel

[John Robinson]

Different and spot on to me.
Great impact
JohnR

[Marc Mol]

Thanks Rachel

I do wish that you had either included the edge of the roof and paws or perhaps cropped even higher perhaps along the chest in a 16 x 9 format. Certainly seems like you had excellent sightings, keep the images coming.

TFS,
Rachel

I have 100's of images with the roof edge, this was my preference to post without.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

This is a 'wow' photo, Marc! At first I thought it was pushing you down onto the ground, preparing for a meal! Full marks to you!

It probably saw its parents jumping onto vehicles and is now doing the same, still not realising why they did it. Wait 'till he starts his hunting life in all seriousness, then he'll know!

Amazing that these relatively vulnerable animals can survive amidst lions & hyena's!

[Martin Dunn]

another memorable shot from what must have been an incredible trip Marc.
Nice and crisp.
Although you have explained that the cheetah was looking through the roof hatch, Ilike the fact that you have not included any of the hatch/vehicle, leaving it to the viewer to imagine how the photo came about. (assuming he/she didn;t read your explanation of course)

[Marc Mol]

Thanks John, Tobie & Martin

I like the fact that you have not included any of the hatch/vehicle, leaving it to the viewer to imagine how the photo came about. (assuming he/she didn;t read your explanation of course)

My thoughts exactly Martin

[Morkel Erasmus]

Lovely shot Marc, really love the expression and having the cheetah up close and against the sky. I don't mind the clipped paws here as the face has ALL my attention.
I too notice the leg halo , and might perhaps brighten the cheetah up overall by about 1/3 stop?