Masai Cheetah

The light was beautiful and the Cheetah's pose is nice. The eyes really stand out. Thanks for sharing. I'm looking forward to more of your posts

Wow!!! Beautiful light and a great subject. The large version is awesome. You did very well considering this was one of your images from a fledgling wildlife photography trip Ashley. Your exposure looks right on, but I'm with Jules as I would like to see a little more foreground and I might like to see a bit more room on the left side. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your photos.

Ken Archer

Ken Archer

Sweet, sweet light and excellent pose make for a fine capture. I really like the reflective quality of both eyes. I agree with the others about some alternate framing. Thanks for posting this one. I am drawn to the full looking belly and the sway back. Is that part of a kill in the weeds by the front legs?

Many thanks Nancy, Jules, Ken and Lon for taking the time to look at my photo and for your valued feedback, much appreciated :^)

After reading what you guys wrote concerning the poor (my choice of words, not yours!) composition, I'm raking my brains to try and figure out why I didn't see this myself when I cropped it ;^. I always felt I had an pretty good eye for composition, but clearly I messed up with this one ... feeling a tad embarrassed, but I'm sure I'll get over it in time ;^)

Anyhow, major thanks for diplomatically pointing this out and hopefully you'll see a re-worked composition after I've added this comment. Oh and BTW, I took the opportunity to clone out one or two of the most distracting too-light-coloured pieces of grass.

Lon: We came across this beautiful Cheetah perhaps only half an hour or so before the sun came down, which seems to happen very fast in Kenya. Although no way to know for sure, I offered our guide the opinion that this was a pregnant female, and he seemed to agree, hence "full looking belly" you astutely noted :^)

She (working with the assumption that it was a "she") was eyeing a Thompson's Gazelle some way off, who seemed transfixed by terror as it stared intently back at the Cheetah ...... probably adding a bit too much drama with this thought, as chances are the Gazelle was calming thinking, "Seen you, know what you're up to, I'm off like a shot if you come any closer ... " - LOL ;^p

Anyway, for as hard as we were all praying for the Cheetah to give chase before that day's sun was a thing of the past, she simply wandered around nonchalantly for a while and eventually sauntered off in the opposite direction, no doubt thinking she was best off conserving her energy for a better opportunity to come.

I did have another lucky opportunity with a different Cheetah one morning while we were there, who'd killed a young Impala (I think) and had just started tucking into it under a bush, but although we managed to get close enough for a "good photographer" to surely get some amazing shots, my lack of composure in the thrill of the moment resulted in a series of images I felt were really not worthy of the camera I was using. They're not all bad and I may eventually post one up, but I have plenty of other images I'm happier with that I'll probably show you first ;^)

Thanks to you all once again, and hope you like the new composition better than the last. Wishing you all a great one ahead :^)

Ashley

Agree, Ashley, the repost looks much better, compositionally. The lighting here is great and the fact that the cheetah is looking over her shoulder with a fixed gaze at something in the distance adds to the image. I, too, noticed the full belly and presumed that she was pregnant.

Thanks Ajit :^) If she was pregnant, that might also explain why she chose not to give chase, I mean, a lady in her condition surely needs to take care of herself ;^)

I will post up one more image of her for my next thread here tomorrow, hope you like that one too, all the best :^)

Ashley

Real pleased you liked it Jules, and as far as accepting your critique in a positive way, my main reason for joining this community was to learn whatever I can - whether it be something new or, as in this case, simply by having my eyes opened to an alternative perspective - so I thank you again and hope this is far from the last time you'll offer comments, advice and recommendations on my work :^)

Wishing you a great weekend ahead :^)

Ashley

Ashley, this is beautiful. You are obviously someone that's been doing this for a while.... and so welcome to NPN! I like the golden colors here. The repost is a bit better compositionally, but the original was also pretty darn good. It does look to me like the subject could be made just a very tiny bit sharper in PS. Nice work!

Many thanks Charlie :^) Although as suggested in my opening remarks the real credit for this photo, and any others that came out pleasingly enough from my 2006 trip to Kenya, were thanks to me working with a good camera that made all the major decisions for me, as back then I had extremely little experience ;^)

You're absolutely correct with it no doubt being even better with some more sharpening than I already gave it, however, being that I'm still learning my way with post processing and have a propensity for going a touch overboard with things like this, I'm currently trying the less is more approach ;^)

Thanks again and looking forward to seeing more of your work as well as showing you more of mine :^)

Wishing you a great weekend ahead :^)

Ashley