This Mashatu Game Reserve cheetah mom has managed to raise four cubs almost to adulthood - an unusual accomplishment for a cheetah. This image was captured into in early morning sun during a brief moment where she took a quick break to survey the landscape while on the hunt.
Canon 5d Mkiii
Ef 100-400 Mkii @ 188mm
1/2500 sec
f5,0
iso 400
Hi Charles - The pose and the comp work well with the diagonal of the branch and the space to the left. If it were mine I would back off on the vibrance and saturation a bit. Looks like the shooting conditions were tough and you had to recover both highlights and shadows. Did you have enough time to experiment a bit and perhaps go for more of a backlit silhouette?
Hi Charles, glad to see you also found this Super Mom Cheetah. I was there from 23-28 of April, not sure if we overlapped. I like the mood you presented here, but agreed with Rachel that the vibrance/Sat may be a bit too much. Did you apply NR to the BG? Looks a bit too smooth here. Loi
Thanks for your feedback - always appreciated. The conditions were fairly tough and the shot was actually captured while the game vehicle was moving - she was only on the tree for a few moments so a better angle wasn't possible. I didn't apply much noise reduction but did apply fair amount of saturation as you both mentioned as well as a large amount of recovery of highlights and shadows. Will give it another go and see what I come up with.
I might just go a fraction cooler on the WB and pull back Sat/Vib as discussed above. If you have the image content Charles, a sliver more below and a fraction to the right would be nice, I feel it's a little tight.
At ISO400 on the 5DMKIII NR should not be required the files are really good, I only really start at around 3200 on the 1DX and just posted at 4000 in Avian with no NR, your files should be clean enough.
This is one special sighting, Charles - I like your cheetah in hunting mood and the expression/pose says it all: she means business. I too like to grab a few shots from a moving vehicle when possible, in this instance the SS allowed for it and I take it you managed to keep your FP on the subject, so well done! I agree with the above comments on saturation/vibrance. Frame is indeed a tad tight on the bottom, but I can live with that - I guess this is how it was taken and you had to time to frame this perfectly from a moving vehicle.
IMO it would have been nice if you had more environment around the cheetah, that landscape must be breathtaking. I really think you did great given the conditions, in terms of PP work I feel you can improve this image tremendously - if you have the time and inclination to revisit this image I would love to see an RP from you.
Hi Charles -- u have already received some great suggestions, the image appears to me as lacking in sharpness which can easily be worked upon . nonetheless u have captured a superb pose !
Hi Charles - I agree with the comments already made.
I am often guilty of rather going for the overexposed vibrant shot than the low key back-lit silhouette, which in this case could have been a stronger presentation.
Hi Charles, just looking at the image again and I'm curious about the techs juxtapose to the changes applied within PP. My advice would be to always check your Histogram on you camera, it will avoid a lot of PP changes, the image will be better and allows you more time out in the field . As you are using LR6 CC 2015 I would personally reduce using too much Clarity as it more refined compared to 3 & 4.