Leopard on the rocks

[Morkel Erasmus]

Captured this image in February 2010 in the Sabi-Sands Game Reserve.

This adolescent cub was following her mother along the riverbed and halted on these rocks before moving along. I posted a shot previously of her sitting on these rocks.

Techs:
Nikon D3s with Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II @ 185mm
f4.0 @ 1/1250 SS @ ISO-500
Exp +0.7

[Hilary Hann]

I like the tones in this image and nice to see the leopard away from the usual foliage … something a little different. The diagonal line is good and strong. I would crop a bit off the bottom, just where the diagonal rock meets the left hand edge of the image … I tried it on my screen and I felt it added to the composition. Beautiful young leopard indeed.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I like the leopard descending in a diagonal pose. Any sighting of leopard is good, and this one without foliage blocking the view is nice. Any selective sharpening of the leopard done? Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks guys - Hilary you have a point, might just do that :)
Sabya - I did sharpen the leopard selectively upon resizing, but only one round applied

[Ken Watkins]

Morkel,

Great shot I have never seen a Leopard in rocks, great to see no foliage in the way.

I might try to make the Leopard pop out from the rocks a little more, but have no idea how you could do this.

[Harshad Barve]

excellent image Morkelbhai , love the rock and side pattern of Leopard TFS

[Hendri Venter]

This rocks Morkel.;) Great sighting and opportunity well used.

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Mork, I really like the diagonal walking posture, and always great to capture these guys in the open. Sabi Rocks, wherever you go.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the kind comments guys and gals :)

[D. Robert Franz]

Love the diagonal comp here.. Loose the tree behind the cat and the foliage in the upper rt and this would be stunning..

[Steve Berkowitz]

Pretty neat how it blends into the rock even though it's out in the open.

[DanWalters]

Like the way the leopard is positioned on the rock. I agree that the rock makes for a nice change environment wise.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the comments and suggestions Dale, Danny & Steve...

here is a tighter crop towards the convergence line on the rock and the green foliage cropped out...I'm not going to try and remove the stump :)

[Marc Mol]

It's the rock BG that I really enjoy here Morkel, with great colour and tone. Like the new crop also.
TFS

[Ignacio Yufera]

Great and unusual shot Morkel. Actually I really like how the leopard's skin blends with the rock, amazing how that camo works almost anywhere.
As said above, nice strong diagonal comp and sense of direction. I like the repost better.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks Marc & Ignacio!