Chilling out Leopard

[Steve Kaluski]

An early morning sighting of this gorgeous Leopard, can't remember which one it is, or indeed, if it's Rachel's 'boyfriend' , but this one was just so chilled out, happy to gaze and survey the territory, however I think on reflection it's the main female.

Not quite unto Sanjeev's standards.

Thanks to those who viewed or posted a comment on the previous thread.

Steve

Subject: Leopard (Panthera pardus) in tree, chilling out
Location: SA
Camera: Canon 1DX
Lens: 70-200f/2.8 MKII HH
Exposure: 1/400s at f/8 ISO800 (I would have now gone to ISO 1600 for a better SS)
Original format: Portrait, slight crop
Processed via: LRCC (2015) & PSCC 2015

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Steve lovely cool leopard caught in a really relaxed manner
Lovely overall comp , the BG is a tad busy ... but what does on wants to do with it ? ....... nothing just take it as is, and make the best out of it .
Overall tones are ok to me , but i think you upped the 3/4 tones a tad too much for my taste or you gave them not enough depth .
As i would expect them darker / deeper just looking how the sun hit the scene , for sure a matter of taste .
To me the tree does look crunchy / over sharpened . Sorry to say Steve, but for me this is not processed to your usual standard . The image does look a bit unbalanced .

TFS Andreas

[keith mitchell]

Love to see animals in a relaxed state and this one certainly is, will leave the tec bits to yourself and Andreas.

Keith.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Steve - This is Marula and she was early in her pregnancy here to the cub(s) that Sanjeev saw later in the year. My recollection is that she herself was relatively young and this even may have been her first litter. She had trouble getting comfortable in the tree and had fallen out of a different earlier in the morning. It also was actually a bit late in the morning when she climbed up here to scout the impala herd so you handled the dappled somewhat stronger light well. Yes, this tree unfortunately provided a very busy bg and I particularly dislike the small branch right above the head that is present in many of my images as well, but it was there. The portrait comp works well.

TFS,
Rachel

[haseeb badar]

Hi Steve -- Always a pleasure to see leopard images especially on the tree . Nice relaxed pose . I too agree with Andreas , especially on the crunchiness in the tree and also the busy settings abv its head is a deal breaker , i do find the branches and leaves providing a nice pattern below the branch on which it is relaxing . All in all this image doesn't meet your very high standards . Sorry !
TFS !

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Steve,

At last, I get to meet Rachel's "boyfriend"! Very handsome and so relaxed, what a cool looking fellow...What I like most is his gaze, just wondering what - or rather who - is the subject of his attention, at the time this was taken?

I like the composition here and pose from the subject, BTW that hind leg dangling from the tree reminds me of an image Rachel posted some time ago- same sighting?

To me the number of branches not an issue, leopard sightings are very special and rather scarce so I would be very pleased to have one such image in my folders. This kind of scene (subject up there in the tree under a canopy of leaves, dappled light, sunny bits and dark bits) usually presents some difficulties in terms of exposure, I am curious whether you used Matrix/Evaluative metering?

Sky looks good and I like the colour, a few branches here and there a tad bright though not too distracting IMO. Agree with your self-critique regarding ISO and SS. Nice detail, not sure it is over-sharpened. I would have liked the nose a tad pinker but surely only girl leopards have that, LOL.

Thank you so much for sharing, Steve. My vocabulary is not as sophisticated as yours when it comes to techs but I do have some questions regarding this image, will drop you an email soon. I often end up shooting in similar lighting conditions when in the KTP and would like to have a chat before I go there again:)

Have a wonderful evening,

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Gabriela - See my response above. Not my favorite leopard. That is reserved for Nstongwaan a/k/a Topsy Turvy. This is actually a female, Marula and the mother of the cubs that Sanjeev had posted way back.

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks folks, good or bad, no worries.

Andreas, just extracting a bit more detail/colour, (but certainly not using DE), just another method, at SS it's fine, but perhaps amplified in downsizing & the screen pixels, but easy to resolve, just turn it off. Can sometimes be a challenge to get a perfect exposure here, as you try to expose for the shadows, but then you have to balance for the sky to avoid blown areas.

Haseeb, the BKG is busy and not ideal, but sadly not always a choice, BTW be great to see some more big orange cats to balance out the African ones.

Cheers Rachel & Gabriela, lets see what the Bots Leopards can offer later, although I think you better take another HD for yours Rachel, based on Sanjeev's offerings.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Steve -- yes that BKG thing is always a problem especially with the Tigers and leopards so I got your point their . Have lot many things to post , but won't be that many tiger images

[Steve Kaluski]

Have lot many things to post , but won't be that many tiger images

Intriguing????????

[Andreas Liedmann]

Andreas, just extracting a bit more detail/colour, (but certainly not using DE), just another method, at SS it's fine, but perhaps amplified in downsizing & the screen pixels, but easy to resolve, just turn it off. Can sometimes be a challenge to get a perfect exposure here, as you try to expose for the shadows, but then you have to balance for the sky to avoid blown areas.

Hi Steve for me it does not matter ...what you use ... all detail extraction does have side effects , no matter what method , as all push the contrast .You sometimes ask the question , does it help the image ??? In this case i do not think so ..... but your call .
As i always love your "softer" images with nice subtle tonality and great fine details , this is looking coarse compared to your other postings , at least to me , but your are the artist . If you say you are ok with it , fine .
There is a lot more than DE on the market , as i feel NIK or Google have lost track ..... no news .... as many of the major plugin developers are bringing constantly new versions ...... NIK / Google ...... very quiet .I do not care that much as i do not own that stuff .

Cheers Andreas

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Steve, I love the colors and details of the fur. Despite being up high, you had good eye contact. The BG is Ok for me. It's the natural environment. Loi

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thank you for sharing, Steve.

[Stuart Philpott]

HI Steve,I love the relaxed body countering the intense gaze and the diagonal opposite limbs a dangling (so wanted to say the obvious pun). I feel you did really well on exposure Steve,I know you know how to deal with such things,but this cannot have been easy.

Steve obviously I can't evaluate the technical post details or processing, debate ,but as a layman what is grabbing me is the whites/highlights on the higher more oof branches. Is there a away to tones those down slightly. Steve,the light on the leopard is beautiful soft dappled yet those back branches seem much harsher. I'm unsure of if this is what would naturally happen lower in the tree in harsher light, or to do with processing,but certainly i'm picking up on something to do with that,even if I can't articulate it very well or know cause. Not having traveled much ha even here I have no clue about light in africa. Mate on all levels if this was mine i'd be over the moon,
TFS

Stu

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Stu, in conditions like this where, as I said - the subject is backlit you are having to expose lighter for the darker/shaded areas, unless you want that look, also you want to avoid lightening any darks & shadows in PP because that will bring up any noise within those areas. Yes, there are some 'tricks/adjustments' you can apply to the image to perhaps reduce them, but you also need to have in mind, by making those changes - does it look right, is it natural? There have been times where images that have been posted have been 'manipulated' so in theory they look better, as yes, you see the detail, form, eye etc, but if it was in shade because the light was on the opposite side, it just looks wrong.

So for me, providing I haven't blown the whites or highlights, but perhaps have reduced them and still retaining what I feel, is close to the original scene, then I'm happy, plus often things can also be subjective to a point and also how I'm viewing the image and how you are viewing it on you monitor.

Hope this helps.

cheers
Steve

[Stuart Philpott]

Very much Steve thanks so much for your thoughts,

best

Stu

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Steve,

I won't add much more on this thread. Agree with the tree sharpness/crunchyness

Would love also to hang sometimes like that in a tree to relax. Must be nice the view from above.

For me the animal looks great... just not tree trunk. Have read all above

Have a great evening

Ciao Anette