Puma on the Prowl

Gallery: WildlifePosted January 10, 2017521 views18 comments

Perhaps my favorite image from 2016. It's hard to say, as I had a lot of wonderful photo opportunities with these cats in Chile back in May, a trip that was so much better than I could have imagined.

This female was our most cooperative subject during the week. During this encounter, we hiked up to a cliffside where she had been napping, and waited for her to pick up and start her afternoon hunt. We had positioned ourselves further uphill, so when she did get up and start climbing, she was coming right toward us at one point.

You can see all of my 2016 favorites here.

Canon 1DX
Canon 600mm f/4 IS
ISO 400
1/500th
f/5.6

Max

Comments

18 comments

Comment posted by Stephen Kaluski on January 10, 2017 at 12:03 PM

Nice one Max, like the look and crossed front legs.

I would address the blue creeping in, but I still feel you are very conservative on the ISO/SS cool

.

TFS
Steve

Registered on March 25, 2007, 189 Posts, 1064 Comments

Comment posted by Ed Williams on January 10, 2017 at 7:22 PM

Amazing eyes Max. Another fantastic shot of one of your pumas. Congratulations on your Gallery of the Month pick too.

Registered on December 28, 2010, 636 Posts, 3499 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on January 10, 2017 at 8:49 PM

That is a pretty amazing photo, and a fantastic collection of images for the year. My hat is off to ya' devil

Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Sandor on January 11, 2017 at 10:14 AM

Max: it's easy to see why this is your favorite. It has eye contact, a fine pose and the techs are spot on. Richard

Registered on January 12, 2014, 453 Posts, 1625 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on January 12, 2017 at 2:50 AM

Max,
I see no reason for increasing your ISO, you have sufficient shutter speed and DOF, for me.
A very fine image indeed devil

As are all of your 2016 images!!

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

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on January 12, 2017 at 10:57 AM

I love the intense stare. Really very nice devil

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on January 12, 2017 at 11:54 AM

Max, this is very cool. I like everything about it. Foreground and background are great and that direct eye contact and stance are intense. Excellent!

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on January 14, 2017 at 1:58 AM

Just fabulous, Max!!

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

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on January 14, 2017 at 4:06 AM

Great stare n great body language!
Love your collection, great work!

Jagdeep Rajput crying

Registered on April 29, 2008, 686 Posts, 2857 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on January 14, 2017 at 1:20 PM

Thanks, everyone. In this case, because she was slowly coming up the cliff, I felt 1/500th was more than adequate. As she moved closer, I'd probably be more concerned about of depth of field, and would likely bump the ISO in order to stop down before needing to increase the shutter speed at all. Obviously, if she started trotting (as she did with us around during past hunts), it would be a different scenario.

Max

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

Comment posted by Brad Hill on January 15, 2017 at 3:37 PM

Hi Max,

Very nice...love the "cross-over" stride and the stare is great. Hard to find anything NOT to like with this shot!

One tiny thing: On a "standard" resolution display (in the 100 ppi range) this one appears a bit over-sharpened (with the jaggies and crunchies!). But when I look at it on a HD monitor (a 218 ppi retina) that issue totally disappears...

Note to Steve: I think "conservative" on the techs here is only relative to the high shutter speeds you tend to shoot at!

Cheers...

Brad

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

Comment posted by Stephen Kaluski on January 16, 2017 at 9:20 AM

Note to Steve: I think "conservative" on the techs here is only relative to the high shutter speeds you tend to shoot at!

As the cat is moving I would rather have more SS under my belt, it would be a real 'killer' if the image was soft because of a slow SS cool

. Just my take on things.

Registered on March 25, 2007, 189 Posts, 1064 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on January 16, 2017 at 2:54 PM

Brad, that's interesting about the crunchiness. I'll have to check this out on different monitors to see if I can spot that, since I'm not seeing it here.

Max

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

Comment posted by Brad Hill on January 16, 2017 at 3:27 PM

Hey Max,

The over-sharpening wasn't dramatic - and it showed most on the whiskers and some of the fine facial fur/hair. I'm finding the safest route is to sharpen on a "standard" resolution monitor (in the 100 ppi range) and then you're guaranteed it will look good on both standard AND hi-res (e.g., Retina) monitors. Conversely, it is easy to over-sharpen an image (as seen on a standard res monitor) if you are using a hi-res monitor when you do the sharpening (that extra res just hides the over-sharpening effect). Anyway...temporary problem in a sense...when EVERYONE is on a hi-res monitor this will be a historical problem! enlightened

Cheers...

Brad

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

Comment posted by Ken Archer on January 24, 2017 at 5:24 AM

Congrats Max devil

Not sure how I missed this one earlier, glad to see it now though.

Awesome Photo of this handsome wild Kitty!!!

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on January 27, 2017 at 12:09 AM

Wonderful view of this lady.
amazing that you were able to get the entire body in sharp focus at F 5.6.
Excellent work - congrats on a very well-deserved WP!
Sandy