Leopard in Morning Light

[Andrew Aveley]

One of the strongest leopards in the Sabi Sands ..........aptly named Tyson. We followed him one morning while marking his territory and he for brief moment went up onto a termite mound and looked back towards us. I have toned down WB to improve the sky slightly but lost some of the really orange morning golden glow. Only minor PS adjustments and counterclockwise image rotation to level eyes. I tried to create a strong portrait with neck, chest and legs. All comments appreciated on this .

Canon 1DMK 3 1/800 F 5.6 ISO 640 with 300 mm F 2.8 L on monopod and wimberley head.

[Willem Verboom]

A nice shot with beautiful warm morninglight! The detail is very good indeed,and the compo is great too.

[peter delaney]

excellent image Andrew.... leopard oozes power........

[Ken Watkins]

This looks to be a very big boy, as Peter said he "oozes power"

Good Light and good choice to use a head and shoulders shot. It nearly always works out well when they are a little above you.

[Harshad Barve]

Excellent image
TFS

[Lorant Voros]

I think it is a very strong one indeed, so it was good to include the neck, chest and legs in your portrait. Very nice with the light and I like the ear worn out by the fights. Well done.

[Rachel Hollander]

Andrew - Agree with the others, well composed and really shows the strength of the leopard. On my monitor it appears that there is a slight halo along the back and around the top of the head. Since no one else has mentioned it, it could just be the lighting (or my monitor :().

TFS,
Rachel

[Giovanni Frescura]

The light is very particular ...ok well done!

[Hilary Hann]

Rachel, I see the haloing also.
He certainly oozes power and strength and looks to have the scars to prove it. Like the crop and lighting used here, very nice.

[Robert Amoruso]

Works well on many levels as detailed in the previous comments. I too see the halo.

[Morkel Erasmus]

what a brute Andrew and a great stare. the halo is rather prominent on my screen and seems to be the result of S/H adjustments?

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Andrew, really like this shot. The clean BG behind the leopard, and his backward glance with the powerful shoulders show off is power really well. Good timing to capture this. Processing looks good bar the halo, but another excellent leopard shot after your "Shadow' post. Well done here.
cheers
Grant

[Andrew Aveley]

thanks all for the great feedback. PS work very minimal on this image and will have to relook at correcting the halo. It is clearly visible on my PC screen on this resized version :oThanks Grant, one of my fav subject to photograph !