cheetah at sunrise

[Tom Graham]

This cheetah was taken May of 2007 in the Madikwe Reserve, South Africa. He was one of three brothers. Early morning light. I'm a sucker for back lighting or in this case strong sidelight. The hard part with the original was tuning for an early sun color balance that I like. And a little curves to smooth it out. Cropped to about 80% of original and that was tough also. How close to get in versus the lovely little bush tree (tree name?). Also, this is flipped horizontal from original, original cheetah was looking right.
at f8, 1/250s, ISO400, lens about 180mm
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As always all C&C and re-work welcome.
Tom

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Tom Like it a lot and agree with you on the sweet side light !! Works great for mammals but not much for birds :)

Regarding the color balance I usually only worry about the red channel .... just lower it a bit and go with it !! Image has a great feel and is very appealing !!! .... amazing how colose you can get to this animals !!!

[Kerry Perkins]

Tom, great capture and I think you did really well with the crop. The side lighting is perfect for the mood of this shot IMO. Really sweet light. Nice!!

[Lance Peters]

Hi Tom - sweet light for sure - AL nailed the critique.
Like it a lot :)

[Dave Mills]

Hi Tom, well handled along with beautiful light. The small bush on left counterbalances the image nicely almost creating a frame for the subject. Good one!!

[Tom Graham]

DMills - thanks for comment about small bush. I wondered about it and decided it did no harm. It is not directly in front of the cheetah's view, back not forward, and perhaps added a bit of interest to that rather blank area. You landscape guys are really good at composition !! :)
Tom
ps - I would like to see a front paw(s)