Snow Leopard (C)

[Rachel Hollander]

I thought I would start off our May Theme "Captive" with another image from my series of the snow leopard cub stalking the visitors. Taken at the Central Park Zoo in NYC. Shot through glass in February 2014.

Canon 5D3
70-200 II @ 180mm
1/400
f5
ISO 1600
HH, cropped from horizontal to vertical, levels, curves, luminosity mask, selective color adjustments, NR on bg, sharpened in CCPS.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hey Rachel. I really like the head-on view with shallow DOF here. Just enough colour to make it very pleasing to the eye too.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel like the other shot great IQ for shooting through glass.
Great pose and that look is kind of funny for the Snowie………
Very good that you got the tail into the frame is giving the image a nice depth. Good choice of colors and contrast.
Only i would change is loosing the white snow blobb in URC .

TFS Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Works for me Rachel, perhaps a little off the top, WDYT?

TFS
Steve

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Rachel,

I have not seen this kind of expression on a leopard's face - but then again, I have never seen a snow leopard either...What a great capture, magnificent pose! I agree with Steve with taking just a tad off the top (a tiny little tad), overall I love the way you processed this image including colours and sharpness, indeed amazing IQ for shooting through glass (do you carry paper and a small bottle of glass cleaning liquid with you when you go to the ZOO?. Since people love to touch the glass with their hands and foreheads ever so often...)

Brilliant work, Rachel!!!

Warmest regards,

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Morkel, Andreas, Steve and Gabriela for the kind comments. I'll take a look at taking some off the top.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Ha ha, shame on you Rachel - have you pulled a face at the poor animal?

Nice one!

[Don Railton]

Impressed with IQ given you shot through glass..! What were you doing to provoke such a look? Well done.. No suggestions

Don



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Tobie and Don. The key was to shoot from above the heads of my friends' kids who were there with me. The snow leopard seemed to see the kids and came to check out what they were doing.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Rach, the inquisitive expression on the snow leopards face says it all. Love the detail and 'colour' on the SL, and can how these guys would blend in so well to a snow enviroment. Well thought out to position yourself above the kids heads - animals are always inquistive of kids.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Stu

[Marc Mol]

Love the inquisitive expression here Rachel, good quality considering the quirks of shooting at a zoo.

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Rachel, love that expression of the cub and the great details and sharpness you captured here. The only thing I wish is done reference to appreciate the size of the cub, but there wasn't much you could do about it being a captive shot. TFS. Loi

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Marc and Loi. Loi - my guess is that the cub was about 40 lbs already.

Rachel