Leopard on Log

[Bill Dix]

This one from Botswana 3 weeks ago. A lucky capture since she hopped up on the log to survey the territory and remained there only briefly. I grabbed a shot at a wider angle to show the setting, but after looking at it, I decided I liked it better as a large vertical crop.

a7iii, 24-105mm @ 69mm, ISO 2500, 1/1000s @ f/18. (I rented the a7iii so that I could have a second body for wider angle than my 200-600 lens. I only got it several days before my flight, and didn't practice enough. Its' setup was different from my a1 and in the heat of the moment I ended up with a few odd settings.

[Andreas Liedmann]

hi Bill , always special to have a relaxed Leopard during a game drive . glad you had the opportunity and he posed nicely for you guys .
Overall color and tones looking good to me , as does the composition .
sadly the Iq has suffered badly , imho , I can't see any fine detail rendered in the subject .... besides the large crop ( how much that ever is ) image looks like being treated with heavy nr on top .
I would rather show the original and keep the IQ high ... just my take .
but we might think different .

tfs Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Bill, Leopards are great subjects and when relaxed, can offer, like this, super poses.

Will leave the IQ to Andreas as I'm still currently working away from home. Colour looks good, but why f/18?????????

Where did you visit in Bots.

TFS
Steve

[Bill Dix]

Thanks Steve. As I noted above, the odd settings (f/18!!) resulted from an on-the-fly adjustment using the thumb wheel on a rented camera body that I wasn't familiar with. We stayed at two camps in Botswana: Shinde along the northern edge of the Okavango Delta; and Kanana, on the southern edge of the delta.

[Steve Kaluski]

from an on-the-fly adjustment using the thumb wheel on a rented camera body that I wasn't familiar with

LOL, we have all been there Bill, no problem.

Shinde, nice one, not been to Kanana, hope the trip was both enjoyable and productive.

[Steve Kaluski]

Meant to ask, who was you guide, doubt if Mr ‘B’ is still there?

[Basil Dardagan]

Its a beautiful pose in lovely light and the log is really cool however I agree that the IQ looks off

[Bill Dix]

Meant to ask, who was you guide, doubt if Mr ‘B’ is still there?

Steve, our guide for 3 days at Shinde was a very personable and knowledgeable fellow named Sue. Good with the birds as with the animals.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Bill,

Some awesome sightings you must have had during this trip, I am sure you enjoyed it tremendously!

Superb pose from this leopard and as is composition looks good to me, but I must agree you've been a bit 'heavy handed' in post processing . Especially the NR on the BG and sharpening on the subject.

I wonder if you could perhaps take a look again at this file and maybe stay with the original composition? I am quite certain that a lesser crop would greatly help with the IQ, and the presence of those trees in the BG might not take away from this lovely scene.

Colour-wise leopard looks great and the light was just awesome. Hope you find the time for an RP, I am sure it'll be worth it

Warmest regards and many thanks for sharing,

[Bill Dix]

Thank you all for your observations. In retrospect I agree that the PP was somewhat heavy-handed. This was one of many exciting moments on the trip, but didn't lend itself to a great image; I was trying too hard. At Gabriela's request here are two RP's. The first is the FF shot, simply resized with no sharpening. If I remember correctly I may have adjusted shadows and highlights on this. I felt the BG trees were a distraction, but they do offer some nice African habitat.

[Bill Dix]

Here's the second RP. This is cropped, with some sharpening, denoise and bit of blur on the BG.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Bill,

Thank you so much for taking the time to RP. I think it looks a lot better. Just a small thing, there is a small piece of a branch (just behind the leopard) you might have forgotten to do NR ? Look between the front limbs and tummy.

Kind regards,