The Lady's Prerogative
by Ashley Vincent
Canon EOS 7D, EF 70-200mm f/5.6L IS USM @ 70mm, Manual @ f/5.6 (1/4000 sec), 0 EV, ISO 400, Handheld, JPEG from RAW, Cropped 40% from Full Frame
As part of the breeding programme at the Big Cat Reserve (Limpopo, South Africa), this female Leopard shares an enclosure with a willing and able male. Though whether or not they actually get it together, so to speak, is apparently this lady's prerogative to decide.
This kind of action is fast to unfold, so I'd chosen to pan out to be sure of not clipping anything vital, knowing that I'd be able to crop for composition later if necessary. Can't recall now exactly what position I was in, but looking at the image back home I needed to straighten it out some with a few degrees of rotation.
In addition to this, some of the metal supports attached to the enclosure's fence were visible in the background, and while I'm happy enough to disclose which of my photos are of captive animals, I saw no reason to ruin a picture like this by leaving such easily removed elements in.
As always, happy to receive thoughts and opinions.
Comments
18 commentsLove the grace of the leopard climbing down.
Knowing that, as you write, shots like this one are often made in a split second, I belief that the image would be stronger if the leopard (and the tree) were 30% of the frame more to the right.
Anyway, strong image with lots of room for the environment (with or without enclosure...).
Thx for posting
Jef
Beautiful light. I would be tempted to go with a bit more room bottom.....if it doesn't introduce other unwanted elements. Love the curve of the tail!
While I like the action and overall pose of this image more than your previous post, I think you [i]timed[i] the previous slightly better (I do like the light here and your DOF is nearly spot on). While the limbs and tail here are in a very good position, I think the overlap of the head with the trunk, and the resulting lack of separation of the two), hurts this image a little (i.e., I think it would be stronger if the entire outline of the head had only sky behind it). Tough order for sure, but this was the first thing that jumped out to me when I looked at the image.
Cheers...thanks for sharing this...
Brad
I tend to agree with Brad on overlaping head n trunk.
Jagdeep Rajput
Ajit: Have to admit that my skin's become a little thicker since becoming a member on the NPN ;^)
On the same day I shot this I was up well before dawn outside the enclosure waiting for the sun to light up the sky in the hope of capturing silhouettes of this Leopard in her favourite tree. With some prior instruction from my friend Stu, I knew that I had to work with manual settings if I were to capture the images I wanted, which I eventually did and will be posting up one or two of here in the not too distant future.
When arriving back at the enclosure again in the afternoon for a second shoot, while climbing out of our vehicle I must have inadvertently flicked my programme control knob on the 7D from Aperture Priority (which I'd been on for most of the day) to Manual, and without realising began shooting away with the same setting I'd dialed in at sunrise ;^.
Fortunately I still managed to pull off a number of shots in a series while on these setting that I ended up pleased with nevertheless :^)
BTW I read your response to Marsel...I HATE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS!!! I never had a camera I could inadvertently do this with until my Nikon D7000 and it's cost me a half-dozen times already, and I'm sure will get me again soon. It's especially bad in my case because my younger daughter and son keep borrowing the camera to chase birds while Jenaya's off shooting some critter that's caught her eye, and invariably I bump that cursed dial on the handoff or return.
Anyway, great work, as always!
Wishing you and the Launstein family a wonderful weekend :^)