Golden hour ascent

[Marc Mol]

6.19am

and a 3 yr old male leopard known as Moyo (Swahili for "heart") climbs a large Tamarind tree to a beautiful golden hour sunrise, opportunities like this happen very rarely and was thrilled to capture him in such an iconic pose and soft warm light.
I've been most fortunate to sell this image to a number of Sth/East African safari companies.

Ruaha Nat Park- TZ.

Bean bag, front pax seat, curves, levels, selective smart sharpen, TK adj's, conv in ACR & PS CC '18.

Nikon D850*
Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8E FL VR
f/4
1/1000s (would have liked a little more S/S, but worked out fine.)
ISO1000@ 100mm.

1400px wide.

* It's no wonder many from Canon have finally made the switch to the enlightened side with the release of the D850, I can say with some confidence that (in conjunction with the new 70-200E lens) I have never seen such detailed and high quality images in my 40 years of shooting wildlife.

Cheers
Marc

[Gabriela Plesea]

This is beautiful, Marc! The light is awesome, so is this elegant leopard, superb pose and I love that determined look on his face

Beautiful colours indeed and nice framing, well processed, works for me as presented. I haven't had a proper look at my D850 images but if they look this good I'll be very pleased (I used mine with the 200-400 which is also new, so a bit of an experiment).

Thank you so much for sharing, a real pleasure to view

Kind regards,

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Marc, this is really nice, love the light, the diagonal branch and the details. I am envious of your D850 but am sticking to my guns "canon"
Enjoy your new cam & keep sharing.

[Glenn Pure]

The pose is wonderful and mood captured really brilliant, not to mention the great framing provided by the branches. An iconic shot indeed and your sales to willing buyers is testament. Having said that, and perhaps saying something about my judgement here, I would have gone just a touch lighter tonally across the image and tried for the leopard a little further back down the branch (but you may not have that frame?). That would have enabled a slightly tighter crop as I'm not a huge fan of the large amount of foliage in the top left and so close to the leopard's head. But as I say, just my quirky view.

[Marc Mol]

Many thanks Gabriela, Sanjeev & Glenn

tried for the leopard a little further back down the branch (but you may not have that frame?). That would have enabled a slightly tighter crop as I'm not a huge fan of the large amount of foliage in the top left and so close to the leopard's head. But as I say, just my quirky view.

I do have multiple frames of him and I take your points Glenn, however I chose this particular frame due to the iconic leading front paw, raised rear and tail curve as the best, despite the approaching foliage, to include less of of the LHC foliage would also restrict the curvature & framing of the tree branches (keeping my preferred 2;3 ratio ),

as this is nearly F/F there are many subjective ways to crop this frame for sure, but very happy with how this presents as is.

[Giovanni Frescura]

It is wanderful...the light/the composition/diagonal situation all is fine ...it tels a story with one photo alone!
Well done !

[haseeb badar]

Hi Marc -- A big congratulations on this image. Absolutely loved the framing and colours , the light has made all the difference and no wonder it had been bought by interested parties. I feel the leopard can do with a bit more sharpening, but that can only be my eyes.

Extremely well done ! But we are sticking with canon

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Marc - Congrats on this one. Beautiful light and the pose is perfect with the raised paw, sleek line of the leopard and curve to the tail. It all works for me. Nicely seen and captured.

TFS,
Rachel

[Stuart Philpott]

Killer iconic i'm unsure of the right words Marc,it just works on so many levels for me,the exquisite light the raised paw the flow and ebb of branches,another belter Marc. Tremendous to view what a treat

Sorry no nits maybe next time

stu

[John Whaley]

It is a beautiful image. Perfect light and pose on this powerful Leopard. Thanks for sharing it.