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Thread: Two-headed Leopard??

  1. #1
    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Default Two-headed Leopard??

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    One from our trip to Leopard Hills in the Sabi Sands earlier this year.

    We followed this mom and sub-adult cub around for almost 2 hours, tracking them when they entered thick shrub. Here they were out in the open for a while.

    It's a bit tight at the bottom (taken as the vehicle was moving so tricky to keep a steady hand with this lens), but I'm still quite happy with this shot.

    Techs:
    Nikon D3s with Nikkor 200-400mm f4 VR @ 200mm
    f4.0 @ 1/1000 SS @ ISO-500
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Morkel a very nice looking Leopard and the tail around the throat is a nice touch. Colour looks good, but I might blur slightly where the two leopards join/overlap, somehow its just too sharp there? The trees in the BG is slightly distracting and as you say, a bit tight in foreground, but can live it.

    My main concern is, I'm not too sure where to look, as the bodies overlapping is almost perfect, spot on, you could not have planned it, but it is leaving me confused sadly. I guess for me it's a 'marmite shot' and I mean that in a nice way because I cannot make my mind up. I hope others will look & post as this one is so personal in the overall POV.

    BTW Have you moved to the 'Dark side'?

    TFS
    Steve ;)
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

  3. #3
    Robert Amoruso
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    Nice optical illusion but like Steve, the image is confusing to me.

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    BPN Viewer Tom Graham's Avatar
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    Confuses me also - but that's the fun of it!!
    Tom

  5. #5
    Alfred Forns
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    ... sweet Did have to look twice ... best way to do it ... one looking forward the other to the rear !!! Neat !!

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    Morkel, I had put a long message to this thread with lots of thoughts, but then the site went down for the big upgrade and I lost it all. Now I can't remember what wonderful things I suggested! :confused: but I think it was along the lines of a split image. Black and white and bring back the colour in the primary leopard with masks etc. etc. … I'm sure you get the picture. Wonderful image though, would love to have been there.

  7. #7
    Ken Watkins
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    Morkel,

    I will be completely blunt, you have a great image of a look back, but the OOF leopard ruins it for me.
    It may have been more effective if you could have got a lot more DOF or if there was more in shot that the focus was on the rear Leopard.

  8. #8
    nothsafoto
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    I will now Bluntly Disagree with Ken. I really like this image and I would not alter it in any way. The slight bonus would have been more space at the bottom of the frame but you have made a good excuse why that is not here. There is sufficient DOF to separate the 2 bodies although the lines and angles make it possible to view "the other way round". Stunning shot and the tail of the further leopard is positioned to perfection.

  9. #9
    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    thanks for the varied and honest feedback everyone. this is another one of those which will either work for you or it will irritate you...might be becoming my signature :)
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Morkel,
    Any reason for selecting f4?

    Even with a single animal, at f4 and the focus at the hind part, the face is going to be out of focus and would need some selective sharpening and other such pp magic (assuming that the subject is not very very far away in which case, the dof will be much larger).

    With another leopard behind the first, the dof is not going to be sufficient to hold them both, neither will it be too shallow to get the other one out of focus. If you want the title of the image to work, then depth of field has to be more.

    I like the tail around its neck.

    Cheers,
    Sabyasachi

  11. #11
    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    thanks Sabya...f4 was the default setting I was on since it was overcast and the light dim...I should probably have gone for f8 with a higher ISO (the camera could handle it!) :)
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Lovely image Morkelbhai , this image I have seen while I was in Bandhavgarh and got chance to make same image of tiger cubs
    TFS

  13. #13
    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    thanks Harshadbhai - would love to see that one!
    Morkel Erasmus

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