Leopard from Lake Nakuru

Gallery: WildlifePosted March 2, 2011475 views14 comments

Discover a leopard in the fever tree forest is not easy. At first glance his fancy fur creates on the tree trunk where the bark is peeled off the perfect mimic colouring. To observe the predator during the day as I have managed in the Lake Nakuru area, it requires a huge portion of luck.(Nikon D300+Nikkor 200-400mm/f4 lens,teleconverter 1.7,beanbag, 1/250s at f6.7, ISO 500).

Comments

14 comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on March 2, 2011 at 3:17 PM

Visually stunning... the colors and detail are fantastic and the surrouding habitat is intruiging. I like the choice of DOF and the composition.

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on March 2, 2011 at 5:32 PM

It's really busy, but I can't really complain about that since there are so many great colors throughout the frame. The pose and stare are great too.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by wade pettitt on March 2, 2011 at 5:59 PM

Petr, I really like this. The colors are amazing, and the comp is perfect IMO. Man the stare that cat is giving like "come on just a little closer and make my day". Well done!!

Registered on May 6, 2009, 184 Posts, 471 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on March 2, 2011 at 6:11 PM

Awesome habitat and leopard photo Petr

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on March 2, 2011 at 9:36 PM

Beautiful subject, colours and pose Petr, you must have been overjoyed to come across it :^)

I would be interested to know why you chose a setting of f/6.7 though, as I would have thought a larger aperture would have blurred the background still more. That being said, I'm not familiar with Nikon gear, so perhaps the widest you could get with the 1.7 TC attached was f/6.7.

Another thing I'd interested to know is, if you cropped this image at all, was it from the top of the frame? Reason I ask is that if this is the case I think and it were my picture I think I would have opted to crop the same amount but from the bottom of the frame instead, giving what I believe would be the perception of a closer perspective on the subject.

Looking at it again, I guess you may have been wanting to emphasis the fact that the subject was high up in a tree ...... actually, the longer I look at it the more I'm coming to appreciate that this perspective, with the leopard set higher in the top third of the frame, is probably the best one to have gone with if you did have the option anyway, seeing as it is appears to be looking downward at you ;^p

Hopefully you won't regard my questions as criticisms Petr, as that's not my intention; I'm genuinely interested in knowing more about how you went about creating this image and your thoughts in presenting it this way.

Whatever the case, it's a splendid capture of a magnificent animal and one to be proud of for sure :^)

Looking forward to seeing more of the images you captured Kenya :^)

Kind regards,

Ashley

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments

Comment posted by Ajit Huilgol on March 2, 2011 at 11:53 PM

A dream shot of an elusive cat. It looks so relaxed, as only a leopard can! The texture of the branch is great as well!

Registered on December 19, 2008, 302 Posts, 2055 Comments

Comment posted by Marsel van Oosten on March 3, 2011 at 2:48 AM

It's a shame the background is so cluttered, because the pose is near perfect. The only thing I don't like about it is the position of the ears - pointing backwards. Toning down the contrast and saturation in the background might help to reduce the cluttered feel. Gorgeous animal, great sighting I'm sure.

Registered on March 9, 2004, 285 Posts, 2277 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on March 3, 2011 at 10:40 AM

What a wonderful encounter to find the leopard relaxed and posing like this, the colors in this are very vibrant and the leopard detail looks great on the larger version, way to go.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on March 3, 2011 at 11:41 PM

Great detail on the Leopard, the 1.7 worked very well here on the 200-400VR. The photo is beautiful as is. Alternate views with less saturation, less dof, looser composition as previously suggested would be interesting as well. I imagine you gave the shutter a workout and have many other photos of this unique opportunity.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Joe James on March 4, 2011 at 7:18 PM

Beautiful, rich colors Petr! I love the COMP and colors in this image....well done.

Registered on November 20, 2009, 89 Posts, 808 Comments

Comment posted by Petr Slavik on March 5, 2011 at 9:35 AM

Hi Ashley,
I cropped the image a little bit from the top and the left side.To me to crop it like this it was the best choice You are right - f 6.7 is lens with teleconverter. My goal was to present how difficult it is even to spot the animal in its natural environment.
Cheers
Petr

Registered on December 12, 2010, 15 Posts, 12 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on March 5, 2011 at 4:32 PM

I'd say you fulfilled your goal in illustrating the camouflage. This is a beautiful animal and well portrayed, although I agree with toning down the bg a bit.

Registered on April 10, 2009, 292 Posts, 3967 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on March 6, 2011 at 11:48 AM

Petr, this is probably one of the better poses I have seen of a leopard posted here. My only nit (like others) is I wish the BG wasn't competing so much with your subject. If it were mine, I would be tempted to not only tone down the saturation the BG like Marsel suggested, but I would also think about darkening it, ir maybe even masking it and applying a lens blur in PS. Just some different thoughts, because this image is definitely good enough to try and make it everything it can be.

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on March 9, 2011 at 8:10 AM

Beautiful textures n great pose!
Agree about toning down the BG.
Jagdeep Rajput

Registered on April 29, 2008, 686 Posts, 2857 Comments