Serval kitten's playtime

[Marc Mol]

A big thanks must go to Ken Dyball (and his distinctive black vehicle) for helping us spot this very cute pair, we were vehicle #3 when we arrived at this location and by the time we left I counted around 20. It was quite comical, to hear the sounds of fast frame Nikon & Canon DSLR's going off @ 8-10 fps every time some nice action took place. Not to mention that there must have been many hundreds of thousands of $$$ worth of gear at this one sighting alone!
The light was perfect as we watched this pair frolic around for over an hour or so without so much as a care, a truly very special occasion. Certainly my first time I've ever seen Serval kittens.

D3s 500VR 1/640s ISO800@f/6.3 Masai Mara, Kenya Oct 2010

C & C most welcome

Cheers
Marc

[Rachel Hollander]

Marc - congrats on the sighting. Love the interaction and expression, sharp detail and well framed though I might like just a tad more room at the bottom.

TFS,
Rachel

[Ken Watkins]

A serval sighting in daylight is pretty special, kiitens even better:)

Given the fact that you had good light you probably did not have the light from 50 better beamers to contend with.

Did you get caught going off road, we did.

[Hilary Hann]

What a fantastic sighting and I love the expression on the lhs serval. You lucky thing.

Looks a bit over sharpened to me, but nice image nonetheless. Hope you have some more.

TFS

[Marc Mol]

Appreciate the comments everyone.

Did you get caught going off road, we did.

This particular den site was quite close to the road, so no real offroad issues here.
However, we visited the area 3 times in total and on the third occasion we noticed that a vehicle had driven right over the den hole and had collapsed it totally , we hope the kittens survived and that mum had moved them on.
Just another instance of the Mara being loved to death.:(

[Steve Kaluski]

Nice interaction Marc and a great sighting, but I too feel it is a fraction over sharp? Are you using USM, as Smart sharpen it too aggressive IMHO and is best used for other apps?

No colour cast, did you find what caused it?

TFS
Steve

[ken dyball]

Hi Mark
Was nice to meet you & your wife in the Mara, i remember this day well, some realy nice light late in the afternoon & some goose parked oposite me AHHHH:( so much for the one that finds them and gets there first.
Congrats on a fine image, well done as i know how fast they move.

[Marc Mol]

Are you using USM, as Smart sharpen it too aggressive IMHO and is best used for other apps?

No colour cast, did you find what caused it?

TFS
Steve

Thanks Steve, I always only use USM.
Regards the CC issue, my ability to actually look twice before I post. :o

[Stu Bowie]

Great sighting Marc, and you have captured the interaction nicely. If I ever get to visit this area, Im thinking twice now. Are you saying that at any sighting there could be twenty vehicles at the same place. Guess I will stick to my nature reserve down the road. Only half an hour's drive and maybe two vehicles at a sighting. ;) There again, it wont be serval sightings.

[Morkel Erasmus]

awesome sighting - would have loved to see this. I do notice some cyan/magenta but it might be the laptop monitor I'm viewing on.

interesting view on USM vs Smart Sharpen Steve, I only use Smart Sharpen and if used correctly it won't show as too aggressive. I use USM mostly for LCE enhancements as per Robert's tutorials. I generally apply one or 2 rounds of Smart Sharpen on settings of 125%, 0.2px after resizing, only on the main subject. :D

I do hope those idiots who destroyed the den got a fine or something

[Egil Droge]

Appreciate the comments everyone.



This particular den site was quite close to the road, so no real offroad issues here.
However, we visited the area 3 times in total and on the third occasion we noticed that a vehicle had driven right over the den hole and had collapsed it totally , we hope the kittens survived and that mum had moved them on.
Just another instance of the Mara being loved to death.:(

They don't need a highway to have their animals being run over! 20 vehicles at one sighting, the horror. I've had some really bad experiences recently with people off-roading, to a point that they tried to speed away off-road...I hate to say it, but all South Africans. But a nice image though, of a supernice sighting!

[Ken Watkins]

I've had some really bad experiences recently with people off-roading, to a point that they tried to speed away off-road...I hate to say it, but all South Africans.

Off roading is one of the smaller examples of bad behaviour by certain groups of South Africans.

[Harshad Barve]

This is simply awesome , big congrats
TFS