Blue-eyed Leopard

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

This leopard was called such due to her light eyes and her name was Zebanine. We saw her with her cub on an evening game drive with a grey Duiker kill. Since only 1 vehicle was allowed at a time due to the sensitive nature of the sighting we had to wait for our turn and by the time we got there, the light was fast fading. I was fortunate that she got out of the thicket & offered me a few poses. I liked this one due the clear shot of her eyes, and I was able to get a sharp shot though I was hand holding! I love the IS on those series II super teles! I was quick at removing the 1.4 X III sensing that she might come close and that 1 extra stop I gained was invaluable.
1/200
f/4
ISO 1600
5D III
500mm II

[Mike Poole]

Stunning animal, and those eyes are fantastic. The only thing I could really suggest is that the grass stalk that goes under the whiskers on the left as we look is a bit distracting. Would you be able to fix that in PP?

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Sanjeev - love those blue eyes and you handled the low light well. I like the sort of look back pose and the overall comp. If it were mine I would reduce the cyan in the whites through selective color. There's a slight cyan cast to the ears and the chest.

TFS,
Rachel

[hennieloots]

Hi Sanjeev - Beautiful cat and image. The eyes are special. IQ excellent. The HL seem a bit bright on my monitor/small nit. The pose and the comp works very well for me.
Cheers
Hennie

[Morkel Erasmus]

Love those eyes, Sanjeev.
The image seems very light to me - overexposed as it were. You will show off the leopard better if you tone down the brights and midtones using luminosity masks...

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Thanks everyone, will rework on the image again and take care of the cyan and exposure issues.

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Sanjeev, lovely leopard and beautiful eyes. I'm with Morkel with respect to the exposure. Did you watch your blacks in levels/ TFS. Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Sanjeev, glad you had time to remove the TC on this one.

Overall, it is light, and I think a lot could be gained by adjusting you Exp in the RAW conversion, it needs more tone back in to get the definition, it just looks flat with little form. I would have pushed the ISO more to get a bit more DoF as you want detail in those eyes. I like the look back and the fact you didn't clip the whiskers, an easy error to make.

If you have the time then I might revisit the RAW.

TFS
Steve

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Here is a RP. Reduced cyans, adjusted levels. Cloned out some grass.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I think the repost is an improvement, in shots like this where there is a possibility of casts due to surroundings I find it useful to use the white dropper on the raw conversion, doesn't always work but usually does.