Female Leopard

[Steve Kaluski]

Well it's nice to get back into the saddle and fingers crossed, hopefully I can add some more Leopards to my files in the coming weeks, with the aid of my trusty guide Passepartout.

Mid morning, harsh light, not ideal, but spent a good hour with this young lady as she patrolled her territory, with the occasional resting period. Moments previously, like all cats, she was rolling around in the dust, I guess having a good old scratch too, so her coat had this fine dust in it. Earlier she had been high up in the canopy, hence the ISO800, did not think to check it as she came down, DOH! Probably could have even gone to f/8 too.

Cheers
Steve

Subject: Female Leopard resting on termite mound (Panthera pardus)
Location: Chitabe, Botswana
Camera: Canon MKIV
Lens: 500f/4 HH
Exposure: 1/5000s at f/5.6 ISO800

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Beautiful and sharp, Steve! I don't think a shallower aperture would have made much of a difference. I would have liked a little higher whites in her coat, but the dull-ish color is probably caused by the dust you've mentioned (and on which she's resting). A keeper for sure!

[edwardselfe]

Hi Steve,

Nice pose and what a treat to spend time with a leopard as she does her thing. Sharp image with beautiful circular highlights in the bg. Just enough view of the face but still showing that she's interested in something out of shot.

I wasn't there so I don't know what you saw, but I would look at adjusting your colours slightly. To me, there seems to be a green tinge to everything and I think it might benefit from a bit of warming with WB. I think you might get away with some selective colour saturation boosts as well. But as I say, I wasn't there, and I don't know how she looked, but your image does portray a very pale leopard, even taking into account the dust that you talk of.

I would also expect to see more shadows given the angle of the sun...

Ed

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Steve, nicely framed relaxed pose of the cat.Good portion of space on RHS to give her space to look into, good job.
If it was me , would add some more "contrast" to the mid tones and blacks , for sure not choking them .The whole image looks a little dull for a high contrast shot , following your words of harsh light. Likewise i would add some vibrance to the colors.
Just my thoughts . You made a good job on balancing the difficult light , but it does look kind of "too balanced" if you know what i mean.

TFS Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks guys, I agree Ed & Andreas, although the balance is right, for whatever reason there is a colour in there that gives the image a 'tinge' of something?????????? Please give it a whirl if you have the time.

Andreas, adding Vib, Sat, looking at Lab etc really does not help, even changing blend modes, to me it's a bit of a beast to get looking right as I've looked at most options. Ed, no change on the balance of shadows, more or less as is.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Steve as you said about sitting in a comfy chair……. I do sit in a comfy chair and do find it very difficult to sort out the color "issue " , and you are by far better in solving color problems than me , so i leave it to you what to do.I just observe from here and tell you my thoughts, not meaning i have a solution or better way .
You have by far more experience in kicking the stuff into the "right" way , i learned from you , not the other way round in 90% of the time.

Cheers Andreas

[Neil Burton]

Cannot see any colour cast steve but is there any way to sleectively add a touch of saturation to Mrs Leopard? She looks washed out in comparison to the BG? Maybe its the dust. Otherwise a cracker.

[Steve Kaluski]

Andreas, 'An old dog CAN always learn new tricks'.

Cheers Neil, she does, but I think that is how it was sadly.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Yep but for the old dog it takes longer to learn new stuff , as far a i know .

[edwardselfe]

Hi Steve,

This was what I had in mind - something along these lines.

I boosted contrast globally, increased WB, adjusted tint towards pink slightly, painted a bit of blacks and saturation into the leopard, lowered greens globally, reduced clarity globally and painted some clarity into cat's face.

I think the yellows are a bit too lurid, but I can't seem to tame them and I think that might be the light, but this was just a quick stab at the job....

Hope you don't mind my attempt with your image.

Ed

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Steve i went to LAB and treated the colors and tones and used a High Pass with soft light at 250 PX with 20 % opacity on subject and FG .
I know it is different to your original colors , but just my view without being at the location .
Andreas

[Thinus Schoeman]

Hi Steve, this is a super image of a beautiful cat. I do like Andreas' edit as it just lifts the whole image and give it more spunk. I am not though how good a representation his edit is of the scene as you saw it. All in all, a lot to like about this image. Very good detail in the right areas and a background to match. Congratulations!

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Steve - a beautiful leopard with a nice relaxed pose. The comp works very well. I do think that the dust as well as the slightly harsher light is making it a bit tougher to process. I think Ed and Andreas are taking it in the right direction but, as always, it is difficult to tell without having been there. I agree with Ed that the yellows are too strong in his rp. Andreas has brought out more reds. Perhaps somewhere in between.
I do hope that you get lots more opportunities with leopards on your upcoming trip.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

I think you are right Rachel, probably a combination of all three, however I do think a lot stems from the original RAW file, which, for once was a bit of a beast to try and balance, yet bring out some warmth, so thanks guys for taking the time, it's nice to be on the other end of things.

I do hope that you get lots more opportunities with leopards on your upcoming trip.

I hope so Rachel, but I will have tough competition, just depends on 'Passepartout', however I never count my chickens!

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Steve, great to be able to spend time with a relaxed leopard. Good comp, BG. Despite the harsh light coming at an angle, you did very well here. I like Andreas' RP the best, Ed's second. Sorry. The RPs bring out more life in the subject and the eye in the RP is more lively. Loi

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Steve,

I cannot ever contemplate matching your performance in terms of PP work and I often wonder "how he did it?"

Been wondering about this image the whole day, opened it on my laptop at work and made it my "screen saver" - I do that sometimes, helps me think about it and the way in which it was processed, so today I walked around the pharmacy with this leopard of yours in my head, jealous of your opportunity and trying to figure out the circumstances and what my settings would have been if I were there...

This is my lame attempt at changing what can probably not be changed, I tried whitening the whites without overexposing, tried darkening the darks without choking them, tried playing with mid tones and bringing some colour. I also tried sharpening a tad further but then my image became gritty, I played with curves, burnt and dodged till my fingers went numb...in the end I had to admit defeat.

As you said above, some of the difficulties in processing might arise from the RAW file, yet this is one stunning capture and the unusual angle as well as POV make it very special. The OP a bit pale IMHO, you normally ask me to bring more life into my characters so I was a bit surprised to see you did not "tweak" as usual. The RP's are both pushing into the right direction but lean towards either red or yellow. So easy to "sit down" and pass judgement, I am only posting my version because I feel the need to show you I did give it a try

Hope you have the most amazing sightings during your upcoming trip, wishing you sunny days and that wonderful golden light upon your subjects! I so look forward to see the images you bring back!

Warmest regards,

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Steve

Just my 1/2 cent.

Cloned out the shadow to the right of right front leg, keeps on drawing my eye, wondered what caused that shadow?

Only CS6 , no WB, know you used that dropper tool!

Did some blurring on bokeh in BG at reducing opacity to have more focus on subject.

D&B layer with soft light.

Please excuse masking/halos.

Selective colour with adding minor blacks.

Sat layer.

I keep on hearing "you were there" but we put images ( and edit them) on forums/articles/magazines to entice an audience, to make the capture "better". An image's success is measured on views/comments/sale.
"As it was" IMHO is irrelevant, it is "how it is now"

Am I off the track?

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nice pose and setting, Steve. Harsh light aside - what really struck me is the synergy between her spotted coat and the blotchy bokeh in the BG.
How about this version (or something akin to it) to bring that out some more? Did a VERY quick job with multiple filtered conversions blended and some quick dodging and burning where it mattered...

[Gabriela Plesea]

This is one interesting thread and it got us all going, Steve - here I am, fighting with Andre next to me, trying to decide whose version is best between the two of us, whose nose is pinkest and whose leopard pops more? Then comes Morkel with a B/W

Don't you just love BPN?

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi guys thanks for all the RP's, I need just to take stock overall and come back tomorrow if you don't mind. I have one thought which could give the answer to the initial bases but again, need to look at the file tomorrow.

Morkel, the B/W RP certainly addresses the colour issues . It would be interesting to do a comparison between Nikon & Canon with the same subject, conditions etc just out of curiosity and see the RAW's, just to put a few demons to bed.

[Nancy Bell]

Very interesting thread and so educational to see the reposts and the thoughts and processing behind them. I am most partial to the post by Andre. I prefer the blurring of the bkgd and the D&B, especially on the bright white of the tail. Beautiful pose, not obscured by the usual tree branches. Good luck on more sightings!

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Very interesting thread and so educational to see the reposts and the thoughts and processing behind them.

After seeing all of the different pp'd versions (each appealing in its own way), all I can say is: when presenting a pic to all the sharp eyes in this forum without at least reasonable PP skills, you're kind of stuffed...!

[Steve Kaluski]

OK folks, as to whether this 'resolves' things, or at least gets closure to our perception I'm not sure?

I went back into the RAW in LR as often a lot of my images can run the majority of tweaks I have put in place, in this instance I had changed the Calibration. With that set back to my default I think this goes now more in the direction based on the feedback above. To keep things simple all I then did was export the file back into the PSD with all the various layers & adjustments and here you go. This is why I am such a big advocate of PSD and layered files, you can go back time & time again and make subtle changes without having to remember what you did. If you flatten your work, well you just make life hard for yourself. I did on reflection take one stem out on the RP.

Ed & Andreas thanks a bunch, obviously Ed I appreciate you have limited access etc so cheers, I feel yours is going a little too yellow, Andreas yours a tad Red. Ed, I think it has also tamed the whites a tad more and given a little more depth to the shadows? As a gut feeling/initial impression I think Gabriela is going more towards the result, however Andre has the edge. This isn't a contest, but it's great to see the thoughts and as mentioned, perhaps has helped others too?

Gabriela, I will answer your email later, but just remember, when you see an image the environment you are in will change it, likewise screens, even having two the same I doubt you will see exactly the same. This is also why I hate editing/RP from the laptop, that certainly has to many variations, move your head one way and the image changes completely!!!! I have a constant and controlled lighting with screen hoods on the monitors even though they are side by side as such which does help on reflected light to IMHO. Anyway, here you go.

Thanks again Boys & Girls really appreciate it.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Steve, thanks for taking your time and listen to us .And rethink about your work.
Initially i still feel there is something missing, but honestly i cannot tell you what really.I do feel mine is too red , compared to yours and others , but is it necessary to compare ?
So it is yours and you are the judge what you like the most, as you say you have been there.And it is ok and good how you see the things.
I am a bit frustrated to see something and not really having an idea how to make this fit to MY eyes, make it pleasing to me.But it is as it is.

Anyhow thanks for having this long thread with the different views and options, one reason to be part of it.

Andreas

[Neil Burton]

This one looks better Steve, a bit more punch, especially Mrs Leopardo. I presume you profile was one of the awful Adobe ones and not the camera neutral or so (no EXIF so cannot tell :p )?

Jolly good!

PS - what is the tiny red blob in the crook of her front leg? Mite?

[Steve Kaluski]

Anyhow thanks for having this long thread with the different views and options, one reason to be part of it.

Being 'part of it', that what it's all about. Andreas, I too still think there is something missing, but it's so frustrating as you say, oh well, onto the next one.

The RAW for what it's with Neil is always set to Faithful, 'au naturel' with no added 'sugar', I will then adjust accordingly to my feeling etc, I think it's a tick, but Ed or Morkel would know better.

[Neil Burton]

I always chose neutral but I did never edit a 1DX file so cannot judge the best.... but I know what a certain LR Meister would chose ;)

[Steve Kaluski]

I rest my case Neil!