Black Panther

Gallery: WildlifePosted March 17, 2011275 views7 comments

Canon EOS 7D, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM @ 190mm, Aperture Priority, f/2.8 (1/160 sec), ISO 3200, JPG from RAW

For all the countless photos I've shot of this magnificent Black Panther (AKA black variant of an Asian Leopard) at my local zoo, this is the only one I've ever really been pleased with. It's still a far cry from perfection in many respects I know, however, allowing for the fact that once again this was through glass shot at an extremely high ISO to combat the low light conditions, and 1/160 seemed to be just fast enough to freeze it's yawn at it's peak, well, it's the best I have and I don't mind admitting being rather proud of it ;^)

That said, I wouldn't be upset at all if anyone sees something I've missed either in technique or in post-processing, quite the contrary, I'd be as pleased as always to receive alternative perspectives, suggestions and advice :^)

PP: Cropped about 10% pretty much uniformly from the LHS and bottom edge. Increased the Black levels and boosted Vibrance. Used Surface Blur on the background.
Thanks in advance for taking the time to view :^)

Kind regards,

Ashley

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on March 17, 2011 at 11:15 PM

Ashley, it looks like you had some difficult conditions to work with. Nicely done. The larger size IMHO looks better than the smaller. I do find the light blur in front of the cats nose to be somewhat distracting. It is hard to have enough detail to show the spots of the black leopard, but they can be seen. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Vijay Raj on March 18, 2011 at 10:05 AM

This image for me is a symbol for what my photographic quest is all about. The forests which surround my base is considered to be the best home for the melanistic form of the leopard in India, I have rescued many in my line of duty but yet to capture one in the wild. This image brings back that craving that I need to look more intensely.

I really liked the pinks and yellows against a black one.

Registered on November 22, 2010, 29 Posts, 100 Comments

Comment posted by Oscar Benavides on March 18, 2011 at 6:51 PM

Nice contrast of colours between black and green. I can notice some of noise but nothing strange at ISO 3200. With this hard conditions is difficult to make photos but you resolved this very well.

Registered on January 2, 2011, 12 Posts, 141 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on March 19, 2011 at 4:30 AM

Many thanks for your valued feedback John, Vijay, and Oscar :^)

John: While I'd like to have a go at removing the light blur you mentioned, I'm afraid that my PP skills are not nearly good enough at this stage for me to do so without losing even more detail (than I probably already have while working the Surface Blur) in the subject's whiskers.

Vijay: I hope your dream comes true of one day seeing one of these beautiful creatures in the wild, and it's a dream I also share :^)

Oscar: Took a lot of time and patience to get just this one reasonable shot, but I'm pretty pleased with it myself ;^) Not sure if you read a previous post of mine where I explained that I discovered a method I can use to cut out much of the reflection in the glass (with an umbrella balanced over my shoulder!), and although I didn't use it on this occasion, I will keep going back with my umbrella in the hope of securing even better shots in the future :^)

Wishing you all a great weekend :^)

Ashley

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

Comment posted by Brad Hill on March 19, 2011 at 10:10 AM

Hi Ashley,

While I like the lighting on the leopard and that powerful contrast in brightness of the teeth and tongue (compared to the leopard) made them stand out nicely (especially on the larger version), I have to be honest and say that the bright patches and powerful greens in the background competed for the attention of my eyes and pulled them away from the subject somewhat. So, in purely photographic terms the background of the shot has, for me, slightly impacted on my appreciation of the overall shot.

That being said, I completely appreciate the challenges and constraints of shooting in a zoo setting and can't really see what you could have done differently - about the only way to simplify that background would have been to move in even closer to the leopard (to more effectively blur the background), but I'm guessing this was totally impossible...

Cheers...thanks for sharing this one...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Powers on March 19, 2011 at 12:27 PM

Ashley Under the conditions a great photo - Thanks for sharing and will remember your techs for shooting thru glass next time - Thanks - Paul

Registered on July 25, 2010, 30 Posts, 72 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on March 20, 2011 at 12:12 AM

Thanks for taking the time to view and leave comments Brad and Paul :^)

Brad: I guess I could have pushed my lens the extra 10mm, however, I think I was probably concentrating on trying to get as much of those long whiskers in rather than paying more attention to the background ;^)

But you are of course right, the most distracting feature of this image is the BG and, though I'm hesitant to do so, as I really don't want to lose anything more of those whiskers, I may well try to rework the BG again when I can make more time for it.

Thanks again to you both and wishing you a great week ahead :^)

Ashley

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