Sunset leopard

[Charlene Bacchioni]

This image was taken from a safari vehicle just before sunset , handheld.The image is not cropped.The bg is not changed or worked on at all. I have contrasted and sharpened image,

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV,canon lens 500mm f4,f5.6,1/160sec,ISO-200,exposure bias -0.3step,focal length 500mm.

[Mike Poole]

That's lovely Charlene, superb portrait pose and the muted colours are as I would expect to see at that time of day. I think you just about got away with the shutter speed, I'd have been more confident pushing the ISO a touch for a faster speed, but well done

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Charlene - Beautiful portrait of this leopard. The comp works well for me. Mike raises a good point on raising the ss and ISO in the field to help ensure a sharp image. If this were mine I would back off on the contrast and the blacks are also a bit heavy. I think you can bring out some more detail. Here I did a simple reverse s curve adjustment (leaving the midtones anchored but pulling up the darker tones and pulling down the lighter tones in a curves adjustment) just to give you an idea. I also applied another round of sharpening to the head. WDYT?

TFS,
Rachel

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Charlene, very nice portrait. You certainly don't need to go to ISO-200 with the 1D IV. I like Rachel's RP as it brings out more details asty on the leopard and less contr. Loi

[Charlene Bacchioni]

Hi Rachel -I think the sharpening on the head is much better, I just find the BG has like a green halo infront of the leaopards eyes . I like the more eye detail you have as well.Thank you.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Lovely portrait and very nice detail. I love the colour of the BG. I think your post is spot on on all accounts...especially the whites!

[haseeb badar]

Hi Charlene - my initial thought that the leopard needs a round of sharpening came true after seeing Rachels RP , i liked both the versions in terms of colors. well done and TFS !

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Charlene, a very, very nice portrait. At 1/160 HH, that is good, but in future get that SS up, especially if you want to print things.

I like the OP, but agree with Rachel on the Contrast, Blacks & sharpening, however you'll be pleased to know I'm not going to offer 'Chapter & verse' as per previous posts .

Well done.
Steve

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Charlene

Stunning image of a wild leopard, comp works for me and a clean BG
Pushing the contrast means making the whites whiter and the blacks darker, slow with that thing.. one wants to achieve detail in both whites AND blacks, that Andreas taught me..
I was taught to leave contrast slider alone in LR, rather play with whites and blacks and mid-tones for that matter; separately through selective masking in PS.
Just my 2 cents..
Love your capture

[Gianluca Molina]

Uao... a big cat :D

[Morkel Erasmus]

The light, angle, colours and clarity here is amazing Charlene!
Well done

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

A beautiful shot of an equally beautiful animal, Charlene! I just love the soft, 'pinkish' BG! Nice RP done by Rachel although I would have been proud of either version had it been mine...

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Charlene,

Apologies for coming in at this late hour - I just loved this image as soon as I opened the thumbnail, so much so that I " borrowed it" to do an RP with less contrast, to see what it looked like. Things got a bit hectic around here and I forgot to post it I see Rachel has already done an RP and you got great feedback both from moderators as well as members...all that is left for me is to congratulate you on this very special capture, great pose from the leopard and the BG is perfect, stunning light, just take care with the contrast slider in the future

Looking forward to your next image:)

Kind regards,

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Charlene, great image of this leopard. Very nice colors indeed. Love it as it is. All sits to the dot.

Have a great eve

Ciao Anette

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

With practice it's dead easy to get pin sharp shots hand holding that 500 even at 1/60th, but it is also easy to wind up the ISO to 800 or 1600 and not risk getting a slightly unsharp image by using such low ISO. I would have no hesitation shooting high ISO as with good exposure technique noise is not an issue, or is easy to manage during PP.
That aside, I really love this portrait of my all time favourite big cat.
Really nicely done.
Congratulations. :)