Hwange Leopard

Gallery: WildlifePosted July 29, 2011227 views13 comments

We found this Leopard posing nicely high up in a tree, the sun was setting behind us but in heavy cloud so there is little benefit from it

Taken in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, 29th June 2010.

EOS 1D MkIV

500mm F4 IS hand-held from open game viewing vehicle

F7.1, ISO 800, 1/125, EV +0.67

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Balan Vinod on July 29, 2011 at 5:01 AM

Ken ..beautiful creature ..a beautiful pose..and nice comp too ..my monitor is showing up a tad bit more yellow ...could be my monitor ..well done ..

Balan Vinod

Registered on March 20, 2006, 889 Posts, 2312 Comments

Comment posted by Ajit Huilgol on July 29, 2011 at 8:39 AM

One can see the virtues and drawbacks of a slight overexposure. The leopard is exposed perfectly, but the sky is, unavoidably, blown out. However, you want to capture all the details in a leopard, and the sky can go and hang itself!

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

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on July 29, 2011 at 6:21 PM

The leopard is posed beautifully and the effect of the unavoidably blown sky makes this into a graphic style capture...cat and tree...so that I wish those leaves were missing altogether, especially the ones intersecting the ear. Still, a keeper for sure!

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on July 30, 2011 at 12:03 AM

Thanks for your comments, the circumstamces dictated the outcome here and the BG was remarkably dull, which is very strange for that time of year. To me it remains one of those "if only" captures.

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by Ralph Kerr on July 30, 2011 at 9:22 AM

Difficult circustances as noted. I am wondering what a black border on this image would do. Nice detail on the Leopard.

Registered on January 30, 2007, 369 Posts, 852 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on July 30, 2011 at 12:16 PM

Great pose and you composed this very well Ken. Are you sure the sky is realy blown out? Did you try reducing the exposure in the RAW conversion process and blend this in with this exposure? The fact that there seems to be some blue in the BG makes me think the sky can still be saved. I took this jpeg into PS and even on the jpeg I can 'save' the BG quite well. This is worth more work Ken if you ask me.

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on July 30, 2011 at 8:39 PM

Wonderful subject and the tree adds a lot. Hope Vincent is correct (I suspect he is) and that a bit more work and you will improve this 10 fold.

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

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on July 31, 2011 at 6:19 AM

Thanks for all of the comments and suggestions, I have tried again and hopefully it has improved.

I used colour burn at 100% and then erased the effect from everything but the sky, did it work?

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on August 1, 2011 at 12:14 AM

Certainly an improvement Ken.

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on August 1, 2011 at 12:49 AM

thamks Vincent.

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on August 2, 2011 at 3:43 PM

Certainly a great sighting, and the look is very '3D'. I agree on recovering some from the sky, and your repost has improved over the OP, but what bugs me about the repost are the halos around the leopard and tree and the dark edges on the tree. I also think that adding a hint of contrast to the leopard's head/face will further improve this nice image.

Registered on March 22, 2011, 385 Posts, 2068 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on August 3, 2011 at 12:53 AM

A handsome subject with a nice pose. It certainly did help bringing the sky back in a touch. However, I think the leopard and tree definitely lack some contrast as Morkel mentioned.

Max

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

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on August 3, 2011 at 1:02 AM

Perhaps I should spend a lot more time on this

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments