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WC#249 - A real Challenge
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WC#249 - A real Challenge

by Cay-Uwe Kulzer

Gallery: Weekly ChallengePosted October 6, 20061,675 views5 comments
Well, I will try to post. I am happy to see that the file photo size has been increased to 1200 pixel. Unfortunately I am having trouble to get the file size down to less then 200kb... Therefore this image looses in detail quality... an additional challenge to the WC :smile:

On the other hand, I think that the important part is to describe what was made to get the wished photo...


I made this image already more the 10 years ago. It was the first time after several trips to Africa, that I was able to get a leopard close enough for good photos. During the session, a leopard tortoise crossed the way of the leopard, and the leopard tried to eat it... It started catching the tortoise, but one can guess that it was impossible for the leopard to eat it. I made several pictures of that tries, and I consider this to be the best one... I like the pose, action and the stare of the leopard. Unfortunately as you can see on the upper picture, the leopard was in the shade, the light was harsh, and on top one branch at the foreground crossed the head of the leopard...

After over ten years, and having the scan made, I was able to correct some of the nits of the image. I lighten up just the leopard, additionaly I brighten up just the head, to have it better visible. Afterwards I have cloned away the branch in front of the head. I decided not to clone away the hole branch, to leave the image as "original" as possible :wink:

Canon T-90, F5.6, 1/250s, Sensia 100, ballhead on window

Scanned with NIKON CoolScan 5000ED

PhotoShop retouch as described

Comments

5 comments
Comment posted by Roger Thomas on October 6, 2006 at 5:01 PM
Wow....what an awesome capture. And I would have loved to watch the whole sequence of events before and after this shot. Great job on the retouching of the photo, too.

A very nice image all-around.
Roger
Registered on September 18, 2006, 8 Posts, 19 Comments
Comment posted by Duane Rosenkranz on October 6, 2006 at 5:24 PM
Nice shot, I think you did a fine job improving the image.
Registered on October 13, 2004, 280 Posts, 2661 Comments
Comment posted by David Weber on October 6, 2006 at 7:16 PM
Great photo, Cay-Uwe :cool:, and fine touch-up work too. That's quite a "look" this guy is giving you :eek: .
Registered on February 7, 2005, 296 Posts, 2737 Comments
Comment posted by Dan Walters on October 9, 2006 at 10:00 AM
Very nice image. Great work on retouching the image! Sometimes that is the hardest part. :toast:
Registered on October 30, 2005, 405 Posts, 3693 Comments
Comment posted by Frank Howell on October 9, 2006 at 4:38 PM
Dang Cay-Uwe, when I first looked at this, I didn't notice any diff between the two. It didn't look like anything was different, but I did like the lower one better for some reason that I couldn't really justify.
After reading the discription though, I can really notice what you'd done. Great work! It's really tought retouching a photograph and making it look like you hadn't. Usually you can tell right away that a pic has been adjusted because the colors just don't look natural. You've done a wonderful job of improving a capture without loosing it's natural feel. Great job ladd. :toast: :toast: :toast:
Registered on September 14, 2006, 13 Posts, 45 Comments