Leopard Catch (Graphic)

Gallery: WildlifePosted May 8, 2013189 views10 comments

I have tried for ages to process a series of images of a young female Leopardess killing a young Warthog. We followed this lovely lady all afternoon, and just as it was getting dark she climbed over a termite mound and the family of Warthog scattered in all directions, this one was unlucky.

Kwando, Botswana

Taken into the setting sun,

EOS 1D MkIV
500mm F4
F4
ISO 1600
1/125
EV -0.67

Hand-held from open vehicle

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Martin Dunn on May 8, 2013 at 6:42 AM

That must have been a wonderful moment Ken.
I like the way you've got the leopard looking straight at the camera.

Registered on February 20, 2013, 198 Posts, 1011 Comments

Comment posted by Claude Dagenais on May 8, 2013 at 7:07 AM

Nice action shot Ken, your perseverance paid off.

Registered on April 10, 2013, 56 Posts, 571 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Andrews on May 8, 2013 at 9:27 AM

Great predation shot Ken, and good sharpness especially for being hand held.

Registered on December 31, 2011, 45 Posts, 222 Comments

Comment posted by Suzanne Huot on May 8, 2013 at 10:47 AM

How exciting to have seen and captured the moment.However it is the Leopard's eyes draw me into the image .

Registered on December 28, 2010, 32 Posts, 240 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on May 8, 2013 at 11:43 AM

Yeah, the eye contact is really great here. There's slight greenish(?) caste to the image on my monitor, but that may be the result of shooting into the tough light you mentioned.

Max

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

Comment posted by Don Westbrook on May 8, 2013 at 1:41 PM

I really like your framing of the subjects. I too see that greenish caste that Max mentioned on my monitor. Nice stare from the cat.

Registered on January 4, 2013, 11 Posts, 332 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Clinch on May 8, 2013 at 9:32 PM

Great capture of a violent encounter. I am sure it was fascinating to witness.

Registered on January 5, 2013, 37 Posts, 261 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on May 8, 2013 at 11:10 PM

Ken: Powerful image. The eyes are fantastic. I see a pretty clear green color cast. I did a quick edit of the larger version to verify what I thought I was seeing. Adding a color balance adjustment layer, subtracting 14 points of green and adding 9 points of blue made the image feel more natural to me. Just my thoughts.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on May 9, 2013 at 2:04 AM

Very unlucky indeed... Well captured Ken; nicely composed and sharp where it needs to be. The bright patch in the BG is a bit unfortunate, but not overly distracting. The image does have a slight green cast. You may want to recalibrate your screen.

Ken, I 'fixed' your skewed comment count (Botswana internet... sigh): sorry

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

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on May 9, 2013 at 2:14 AM

Thanks everybody for your kind comments, particular thanks to Vincent for "boosting" my comment count

My screen is regularly calibrated using a Color Munki, there is definitely some form of cast in particular on the poor Warthog. I printed this yesterday on my EPSON 3880 which is also calibrated and the Warthog seems a little blue

I honestly believe that the conversion for web slightly changes colours, and of course everybody has different monitors and see colours in different ways, but I will nevertheless look at it again, you should see the RAW!

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