Curious Cat

[Grant Atkinson]

Canon 40D, Canon 70-200f2.8is, handheld from vehicle. S/S 1/800 at f/6.3, iso400. Metering Eval, Ai servo, cropped from 10 to 6.3mp. Subject dist 4.6m. 10 Oct 2008. 08h04am. Savuti bush camp, Botswana. Processed in ACR6 and CS5.
This is an older image that I thought had a nice story to it. This is a young male leopard. He was sitting in the (too bright) sun sleeping on a termite mound. There were two vehicles watching him. I stopped way short to wait and keep out of the way as I didnt see any chance of good images in the harsh light he was in. When I stopped my vehicle I heard the sound of air coming from a hole in my tyre. Next moment the leopard got up, walked by the other vehicles, and came right up to my vehicle, extremely interested in finding out what the hissing noise was. I ended up taking this portrait and a few others as he approached. After a few seconds he moved away to the shade. For once I didn't mind getting a flat wheel in the bush.:)
All C and C welcome, though my responses may be a bit delayed, going to be out for a bit.
Cheers
Grant

www.grantatkinson.com

[Harshad Barve]

Boy-o-boy , You gotta love this , those eyes are just mesmerizing ,
Botswana seems to be great place for Leopards , You just keep on posting them
TFS

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Grant, the eyes really do make it, and as Harshad has stated, they are mesmerizing, great eye contact. Like the HA and the inclusion of the slight part of the body, rather than tight in. I'm not sure about your concerns about DOF, OK perhaps f/8 might have helped but looks good as presented to me.

I do think there is a 'yellow' running through the image and dropping it along with the red channel too does give it a cleaner feel IMHO, plus I might just crop a fraction off the lhs just to give a bit more balance to the image. See what you think when you get back.

BTW, hasn't this image been seen in a well know publication?

Well done.

TFS
Steve

[Ken Watkins]

Grant,

Very nice indeed, I had a similar sighting many years ago when a Leopard came up to the vehicle, but it was in the dark. A few years later we broke down by a Leopard eating his Christmas lunch of Warthog under a bush once again no images.


Harshad,

Leopards are everywhere, you just need to be lucky:)

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Steve, think you are right about the colour, I will have a go at it. The shot was in Africa Geographic in Oct 2010 as a dps. About DOF Steve, f7.1 or f8 would have been better for sharpness of the whole cats head, but i was worried about the busy BG, and handholding leaning over lhs of vehicle, so opted for faster speed...
Harshad, sometimes we get lucky with leopards in Botswana, this was one of the times..
thanks for the feedback and comments Steve and Harshad
I have to run.
cheers
Grant

[Harshad Barve]

Harshad,

Leopards are everywhere, you just need to be lucky:)

Yes Sir , I am not lucky on this front :o

[Danny J Brown]

Hi Grant,

Just an extraordinary close-up that works beautifully. The eye contact is wonderful and it's amazing that you made an image like this with a 70 - 200! Steve is on to something with the color cast. Congratulations on the publication as well. Take care.

DB

[Steve Kaluski]

Harshad I am sure/know your luck will turn, but then there will be nothing left for us, LOL :)

Congrats on the publication Grant, it is good to see people getting the opportunity to show there hard work, good publication and I am sure this will lead to more. With that lens you would have been OK to drop your SS, but I think what you have achieved is fine. FYI I have just come back from photographing my little owls and the SS was 1/40 on the 500 with a 1.4x on a bean bag, looks OK, I think as the winter sun drop quickly from 1/1000 to 1/40!!! First snow yesterday about 8 inches so...

Be interesting to know your thoughts on the Leopard when you get it. :)

All the best
Steve

[Stu Bowie]

Considering you said there was harsh light, you have exposed and brought out the detail very well. Great eye contact, and thanks for sharing an interesting story.

[Rachel Hollander]

Grant - super portrait with great detail. I too see a yellow cast. So did you set the speed record for changing the tire/tyre once it was safe to do? Good luck on this trip.

TFS,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

indeed a very captivating gaze Grant! congrats on the shot and the publication...
the eyes are haunting! I like the crop very much as is, but would also look into fixing the yellow cast.

how long did you wait before fixing the tyre? ;)

Harshad - wait till you get to the Sands ;)

[DanWalters]

Great eye contact. Like the complimentary colors in the background.

[Marc Mol]

Love the inquisitive stare and direct eye contact on this young male. BG well suits.
TFS

[Todd Frost]

Could not ask for a better stare, bg works well. Agree with yellow cast. Fantastic portrait of a beautiful cat. Well done.
TFS
Todd

[Steve Canuel]

Hey Grant,
Very nice portrait with great intensity and detail.

[Russell Johnson]

Great portrait, Grant. I saw this in AG a couple of months ago.

Would agree on the yellow cast through the image.

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi All, thanks for the comments. Steve has pmd me a colour cast fixed leopard, and it does look better...which is good for me to learn.
About the flat wheel, he didnt even look back once he lost interest, and by the time I had changed the wheel, he was gone...
cheers for now
grant