Following Instinct - The Cat and Mouse Game (C)

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Friends,

Just wanted to share with you an image of a lovely caracal female which is currently being rehabilitated, we were requested not to disclose any information as the place is not open to the public. Taken in relatively harsh light and the shot was not planned so no bean bag or tripod. Full frame.


Techs:

Nikon D4
Nikon 300mm F2.8
ISO 400
F 5.6
1/2000s

Thank you for viewing, much appreciated!

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gabriela what a stunning shot , even if taken under (C) more or less. Great timing during capture.
Love the expression in the Caracal and her pose . Really nice work in the field.

I am not so impressed by your PP on this one , i have seen Andre´s image , i have to say his colors does look much closer to reality than yours , you know i can be hard , but i have to say that .That could be easily addressed .
But what bothers me more is the fancy blurring you have used (whatever filter it is) , it looks so much overdone to me .
I know Steve uses this kind of filter from time to time, or Gabriela on my Rhino , for me this looks no good at all .I have seen the location without the blurring in Andre´s image , does not look that bad .Maybe you use the filter with a gradient mask or at lower opacity.

Or even better my take with the High pass filter , i showed Carl and Andre already , but that is all personal taste what i have said above . Others could have a different view at things.
Not long to go and we discuss that in person and not via typing , far better ..............

Cheers and looking forward to meet you guys , Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you dear Andreas, no filters used and you can see the original when you get here. Never used gradient mask either, and my PP work is quite simplistic, Andre is the Master of all tricks and techs in our home. He shot with his 200mm while I used my 300mm lens, not sure what F-stop he had at the time, but I think we're talking different DOF between the two images. We'll chat soon, thank you so much for viewing and comments, looking forward to see you soon

Kind regards, have a great evening,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gabriela , i am so sorry to think and say you have a used a blurring filter on this one , to me the BKG just looks too smooth for 5,6 an even at 400 % view no single pixel visible in the BKG ,my reason for thinking you have manipulated the softness of the BKG .

So sorry, Cheers Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

No worries, you have to ask!

I did sharpen the ground/grasses at the feet of the subject, just a tad. And dodged the tree, felt it was a bit too dark. In the past I used to employ the paint tool at low percentage to soften vegetation in the BG but I was told it shows so I stopped doing it.

Here I do not like the OOF grasses in front but there's nothing I can do about it. I was trying to shoot from a lower POV. I missed a few nice moments because of this grass in front of me.

And really no need to apologise, I like to know how you feel about the images I post, helps with my future PP work

Chat soon, have a fabulous evening,

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

WOW what a fantastic capture!!! I love the pose, the intense fixated gaze of the caracal and the blurred BG. This is TOP class stuff! Loved it.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Beautiful shot, Gabriela! I love the intense stare and how well you've frozen the action just enough to show that the mouse is travelling at some speed!

I just love these cats - what a pity that some of our farmers view them as 'the enemy'!

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, a cracking image, the techs (although shot in harsh light) has provided enough to freeze the action, and the 300 to compress the BKG nicely. Having a good distance between subject & BKG really helps. Love the placement, slightly curved body posture, and locked on stare. For me, even having that bit of foliage at the foot, seems to anchor the image, perhaps having a sliver more at the foot may help, but again if you have it then you can tell if it works or not?

Just watch your blacks/shadows.

You should be very pleased with this, and hopefully there will be more you can share in time.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Gabriela - You know I love this. Great action! The low pov and the eye contact with the caracal make this a special image. I hope you have more opportunities with these rehab cats.

TFS,
Rachel

[Marc Mol]

Captive or not this is a beauty Gabriela,
love the head on action you've captured here and a testament to the 300f/2.8 "cream machine" anyone who's had this lens can tell that BG is just what this lens + your skill can deliver. This is one lens I regret selling.

Keeping an eye on his prize is so well depicted here, one of your best IMHO.

TFS

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you all so much, glad you enjoyed viewing. Caracals are incredibly fast and and I was terribly lucky to manage a few frames here. Just unpredictable and jumping so high that some images consist of only the tip of her tail

I have more, if you like... I have taken a break from lions, for now.

Steve, thank you - I will be watching for those chocked blacks and shadows, hope you'll be pleased with the next image Here no more space at the foot, this is almost full frame.

Rachel, I surely hope for more opportunities, this was really special. Thank you so much for your encouragement and feedback, much appreciated!

Kind regards,