Kruger Leopard

Hello everyone,

Hope you are all enjoying the weekend:S3:

Thought I'd share another image captured in the Kruger National Park, this time a leopard. The Park is teaming with wildlife but unless you are very lucky you've got to have some basic 'skills' to find them. Patience, perseverance, knowing when to stop and listen to the sounds of the bush, being able to read tracks (we call these 'spoor' around here) and understanding animal behaviour play a huge part when it comes to finding your favourite subjects.

Nevertheless we were just lucky this time... found this male leopard sleeping on the side of the road. Rather unusual, given the traffic in the Kruger. He was extremely relaxed, did open his eyes when he heard the sound of the vehicle but then carried on sleeping. After about an hour or so he got up, stretched, started walking towards us head down and roaring. As soon as he went past the vehicle we turned around and followed at some distance.

So here he is, minutes later quenching his thirst in the middle of the road. A beauty of a leopard and in such great shape. Sadly, he is about to lose one eye...I admit I did some work to fix it. Hope it's not an issue to you, just could not help but portray him in the best way possible. Original/RAW image available on demand.

Nikon D5
Nikon 500mm F4
ISO 1000
F6.3
+0.33 EV
1/2000s


Processed in LR and PSCC. Suggestions and critique very welcome, as well as RP's. Thank you so much for taking the time to view, I appreciate it.

Kind regards,

Hi Gabriela, a nice encounter and to get the Leopard out in the open too, drinking. Love the look back pose and you can see the whole body here and that gorgeous tip of a tail that acts as a counterbalance. The ripples add to in the pan.

I'm wondering if here you could be a bit more dramatic with the FG just to add a bit more oomph/layering???? Also and again I', guessing but some more late sun/warmth back into the image, WDYT???

TFS
Steve

Thank you so much Steve,

Let me try do some work on the FG, see what I can achieve. I think I understand what you mean about the warmth just have to figure out how to go about it:tinysmile_shy_t:

RP will follow:5

Warmest regards,

Hi Gabriela,

Isn't he a gorgeous animal! I love that look, his posture almost uncaring about the intrusion, and the flick of the tip of his tail.

Beautiful cat.

Thanks for sharing,

Gerald

Hello Gerald,

And thank you so much for your kind words!

This leopard was indeed gorgeous, and unbelievably relaxed, so unconcerned with our presence. I posted some time ago an image of him walking towards the vehicle and roaring - what an amazing sighting it was, and how special!

Been working on an RP with Steve's help, shall post it as soon as I can. Having issues with internet and unable to upload image right now...

Hope you have a wonderful rest of the week,

Kind regards,

Very nice image I really think the colours are spot on. I am wondering where was the focal point precisely - maybe a tad more sharpening, I am not getting the detail in the fur that I normally expect from your images.

Jonathan Ashton said:

Very nice image I really think the colours are spot on. I am wondering where was the focal point precisely - maybe a tad more sharpening, I am not getting the detail in the fur that I normally expect from your images.

Click to expand...

Thank you Jon, so much.

Colours about right I suppose... but Steve suggested more oomph so I am working on it:bg3:

FP was right between the eyes and thankfully face is sharp. BTW this is almost FF. I wasn't too far from the subject, so at F6.3 I do not think - given the positioning of the subject's body - that I could get it all in focus.

Steve, not sure I managed to get all that 'oomph' you suggested...

After a few nibbles of Lindt Roasted Hazelnut Dark Chocolate I felt a bit more inspired... so tried all sorts of things in PS, here is the result:bg3: