Took this late last year. Amazing how the bush changes colour in summer vs winter (The male Lion posted yesterday) We call this guy Mandleve, which means 'Big ears', he can be pretty difficult. One day relaxed with vehicles as can be then you see him the next day and he pretty much runs away from you.
Canon 1D MKIII
Sigma 120-300 f2.8 OS @ 300mm
AV f3.2
TV 1/320
ISO 1000
Exp +0.33
Wow, Dumay, that's an intense look at camera! Nice detail and sharpness. Excellent low pov. I might prefer a bit more room below but not a deal breaker by any means. I like the color added by the red grass/pods in the vibrant green grass.
Great image, Dumay! Leopards are my favorite animal to photograph; they are so beautiful and you did a great job capturing that beauty here. I did, however, notice a bit of blue color cast coming through in some of the whites (a common issue with leopard images) and the fur on the chest and forehead seems like it is lacking some detail (maybe from some noise reduction?) - maybe another round of sharpening, or a touch of Nik Tonal Contrast or Detail Enhancer to bring out the fine fur, if at all possible, would take this up a notch?
Thanks for the comments folks.
Mark, I don't really see a cast but more the normal white I would see in very overcast conditions which this was taken in. As you can see by the techs. Maybe also the lack of detail you are seeing is in the shallow DOF. I can see detail in the face legs and feet as well as the grass in that focus plain but it falls away pretty quickly as I was at f3.2. Thanks for your thoughts.
Hi Dumay agree with the above comments re cracking image . Good to see you get still great stuff with the MK III .
I like the comp and overall contrast/tones , enough detail for me to see .Nice stare into the face of the viewer.
Agree with Mark about the coolish look of the whole image , maybe it does look like in overcast conditions.
Just for showing purposes i "corrected " the cast in the lighter parts of the image in LAB , WDYT . I could easily back off on that.
Hi Dumay, that is one belter of an image. The vibrancy of the vegetation really sets of the subject well, especially with that intense stare to camera. I think you could afford to lose a little off the LHS without hurting the overall image. IQ is stella considering it's the MKIII, I thought it had come from the 5D . Prefer the OP, Andreas's RP for me is too saturated, I like the paler look and the whites, albeit with a little colour coming in. Very nice work Dumay, glad you posted this and are easing yourself back in with some tasty image.
Thanks Andries...Thanks for the redo...I tried to avoid adding increasing white balance to warm up the overall image as I looked at some of my older processed images and I see so many of them look artificially warm...so I have tried to avoid this. I took a look at the original and noticed the conditions and colours. All I tried to do was lighten the image slightly and add contrast and up the saturation. I look at your rework and to me it looks artificially warm and not at all how I remember the sighting. The sky was very grey and dark that day which in my experience gives everything a pretty dull colour.
Can only echo what others said above - cracker mate! I seriously need to get some more leopard images in my portfolio...my achilles' heel as it were
While I agree that the OP whites have the slightest of blue coming in, it's not a big issue to me, and you can opt to leave it as is. A better way to deal with it and keep your original colour temperature is to just select blue and cyan in the saturation tool of PS and drag them each down by about 20 points.
Hi Dumay - a great image. IQ is really good and his facial expression says it all. Agree with a little a little off LHS. Cast is of no issue to me here preferring your Op. If Sylvester is still there please send my regards to him. He worked with me as my tracker back in '86 based out of River.TFS
Thanks for that suggestion Morkel that sounds like a great way to sort it out...I will try.
Hi Carl, Sylvester is by us still. He is a Field Guide now....But what a tracker he is. I will tell him you send him your regards....Thanks for the comments.