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Thread: Cheetah bush walk

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    Default Cheetah bush walk

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    Most perceive that cheetah are plains based cats hunting in open areas clear of many of the obstructions that could hamper their high speed chases or pursuits after prey. They of course do prefer hunting in these open grassland/woodland habitats but will adapt to any given opportunity. I chose this image from a number of shots taken of this young male recently when I followed him for around an hour while he walked across huge open plains into wooded areas whilst scent marking and finally ended up stalking a herd of impala in this recently burnt area.

    Some may not enjoy this habitat shot as there there is a lot of twigs and branches that make it a little busy but it is very typical of the environment here that they successfully hunt in. On that note, I have also seen on one occasion, a cheetah hurt itself running flat out into a tree and have found two dead on various tracking experiences over the years.

    7d - 70-200mm f2,8 L IS USM Mk II @200mm
    ISO 800 - f7,1 - 1/1000 sec - AP - HH

    ACR basics
    PS CC14 - levels,curve, sat layer
    Worked on removing colour casts.

    C&C welcome - thanks

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Carl - Nice walking pose and sharpness. Interesting backstory because I do think of cheetahs as more prevalent in open grassy areas. I agree with your self-assessment of the bg being busy but it is interesting to see them in a different environment. Unfortunately, I think the branches and burned area compete with the cheetah and its spots. I also think you may have gone too far in trying to correct color casts as the cheetah looks a little light, maybe bring back some of the saturation. What's the line of white in the upper left area?

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    hi Carl, nice walking pose and a good story to go with it. I agree with Rachel regarding the busy background competing with the cheetah. Colors are a bit light. Loi

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    Thanks Rachel and Loi. The white streak is ash.

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    A nice sighting, Carl. I have to agree the surroundings make it hard for the cheetah to stand out. Flat, shrubless burnt ground would be a different story altogether .
    I agree these cats can surprise us - I've heard of a number of them who actually prefer rocky kopjes to savanna and hunt very successfully there. One only has to look at the number of cheetah sightings recorded in northern Kruger as well to understand that they are quite adaptable.
    Morkel Erasmus

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Carl i am fine with the habitat , it was that way , could be better , but............ shooting a cheetah is all the time good and interesting .
    Agree on colors are a bit light , i would would reduce the blue component in the blacks .

    TFS Andreas

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    Lifetime Member Andre Pretorius's Avatar
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    Hi Carl
    Took the liberty to try and do RP?..

    Didn't do much on cheetah, concentrated on BG..
    Went a bit over the top, just to show my thinking.

    Darkened the BG, reduced the contrast, used photo filter, reduced the sat on reds.
    Blurred at reducing strength closer to subject.

    Resized and selectively sharpened subject only.

    WDYT?
    Regards

    Andre.

    www.gappimages.com

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    Thanks Morkel, Andreas and Andre - Morkel I have some shrub less ones but I still need to sort a decent one. My objective here was to portray something different knowing that it may not be everyone's 'cup of tea' but hopefully presentable enough. I'm sure I can improve on it as Andre has kindly shown but for me I quite like it, whether for a 'memory keeper' or for a book I intend to write one day.

    Ethology is something I have observed for so long that I want to try and experiment with it in photography but in a different concept. This above is not one of them but hopefully I will find something soon to offer it here and see how it is received. As most people will comment and say at the end of the day it is whether you are happy or not with your image is what counts. This is a bit of a catch 22 situation because even if it well processed and 1 or 2 out of 10 are in favour of it, then that kind of tells you it may not be worth keeping. Therein lies the issue for me - where to take it from there. I guess I'll find out in time.
    Thanks again all and Andre lakis for making the effort to help me improve

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