Temporary Peace

Really nice capture Ken. I like the look she is presenting. It looks like the light was a bit harsh, but you made the most of it. I might pull back the exposure on the leopard and parts of the branch just a bit.

Ken: she's a beauty especially when viewed large. The cat is maybe a bit too brightly lit, but is well contrasted against the dark background. Her pose and nonchalant look are appealing. Richard

The sunlight really helps her pop against that background.  Those golden eyes are lovely.

I'd have no problem cropping slightly from the bottom to remove the sliver of light sky in the lower right corner, since it's a minor distraction.

Max

Hi Ken:
This is a very pleasant image with a nice mood.  I like the pose of the leopard on the big branch.  I wondered what it might look like with a darker background, and removing a couple of the really hot spots in the background as well as the LRC.  Here's a version that I did a couple of quick adjustments to.  See what you think.
 

Thanks for the comments, but most particularly Keith's re-post which is tremendous improvement.
How did you do it?

hello ken, another well captured cat!
 

Thanks for the comments, but most particularly Keith's re-post which is tremendous improvement.

Ken:

I used a couple of techniques.  To darken the background, I used luminosity masking using TK's tools. Once the right mask was created, I used a curves adjustment layer to bring the brightness of the background down.  To remove the brighter spots, I just did some cloning/healing a lower opacities to make them blend better.  The lower right corner was just a clone.  I also did some selective burning to bring down the tones in the tree/branch.  That last step, while more subtle, really helped focus the attention on that beautiful cat.  

Good image...but I really like Keith's rework!  It is a good example of how some extra attention to processing detail can really enhance the impact.

Keith,
Thanks very much, I must one day find out how to do luminosity masks. I am not very technically minded

Lon,
I agree!