Masai Leopard #1

Gallery: WildlifePosted March 7, 2011110 views7 comments

Olympus E-500, 40-150mm f/3.5-4.5 @ 150mm, Creative Mode, f/4.5, 1/500 sec), ISO set 320, Handheld, JPG

This is one of two images I will post up from a series of shots I managed to capture on our last day on the Masai Mara. To say I was blessed on this day with such an amazing encounter is to put it extremely mildly! :^)

I was already overjoyed with the one Leopard sighting we'd had a few days prior to this, and really thought that was the for sure the high point of our trip. Then at around 15:00 hrs on on final afternoon, our guide came across a small group of vehicles parked a little ways off from a tree situated close to the edge of a steep embankment that led down to a small river.

Apparently, the people in the first vehicle had spotted a Leopard killing a Thompson's Gazelle first thing in the morning, stash it up the tree, and head off again having eaten only a small portion of it. These people figured the Leopard would definitely be returning at some point to finish it off and decided to wait for it as long as they could. Throughout the day others came along and joined them with patience, full of hope and expectations; we were the last to arrive and join them.

Close to an hour later the Leopard shows up on the other side of the river, casually saunterers across a log (yep, got that shot but unfortunately too far away to make it anything more than a pleasant memory for me to appreciate!), disappears from sight for a few moments while she (pretty sure it was a “she”) scaled the bank on our side, then reappeared again cautiously looking around for would-be predatory thieves after her supper.

The shot you see here is one of the first I took once she had shown herself to us completely, and IMO the best shot I have of her. I'll continue the story with the other shot I plan to post up next, which is also a favourite of mine :^)

PP: About 50% of full frame and cloned out a few of the most distracting light-coloured grass around her.

Critique and comments most welcome, thanks for taking the time to read and view :^)

Kind regards,

Ashley

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on March 8, 2011 at 3:52 PM

Very nice lighting. I really like the look on the animals face. The background is a bit busy, but that is where he was at. Nice image.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on March 8, 2011 at 11:14 PM

Lovely lighting you had here when you spotted this magnificent cat Ashley. The pose is a typical one and I like that tail up. The BG is a bit busy, but not to such an extend that it is distracting instead it gprovides a good sense of the habitat. What does distract me about the BG is the unfortunate bright green bush just behind the leopard. To me the focus seems to be slightly off with the focus plane being behind the leopard (and on that green bush).

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

Comment posted by Ajit Huilgol on March 9, 2011 at 12:14 AM

I am sure it must have been a great experience, Ashley - to see and photograph a leopard out in the open like this. However, the image seems a little soft.

Registered on December 19, 2008, 302 Posts, 2055 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on March 9, 2011 at 1:14 AM

Thank you Richard, Vincent and Ajit for taking the time to view and leave comments, much appreciated :^)

I couldn't agree more with you in regard to the unfortunately busy background, most especially that awfully bright green bush that seems to sprout from the subject's back and right shoulder ;^. The best I could do with my current PP skills was to remove a number of extremely bright pieces of grass, but any attempt I've tried to make with respect to that pesky bush failed miserably.

Perhaps I'll give it another go once my PP'ing skills have improved, however, being that this was shot in JPG as opposed to RAW, I'm thinking that the amount of work this would entail in PP will seriously diminish the pixel quality once I save it as a new JPG file. Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestion on this?

Kind regards,

Ashley

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments

Comment posted by Marsel van Oosten on March 9, 2011 at 5:55 AM

The pose is wonderful, the light is not so bad either, but the combination could be better. The light hits the animal from the side - nice - but the most important part of the leopard, it's face and eyes, are in the shade. The tail is great, the ears pointing backwards not so much (but they do this all the time, unfortunately).

Sounds like a great sighting of my favorite big cat.

Registered on March 9, 2004, 285 Posts, 2277 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on March 9, 2011 at 2:49 PM

Sounds like a real good adventure and I am glad you waited this out. I like the directional lighting on the cat and seeing the habitat. You could experiment with a selective levels adjustment on the cat's shade side and maybe a slight crop on the right to bring out of center but a very interesting image and experience, way to go.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on March 9, 2011 at 10:02 PM

Many thanks for your valued feedback Marsel and Jim, much appreciated :^)

Chances are I'll won't try and rework this image any more now, at least until I see what I've been able to come back with from the trip I'm planning to Africa (most likely South Africa) this coming August; hope being I'll have many more Leopard images that, technically, will put this one to shame ... even though this one will always have a very special place in my heart ;^)

Thanks again and wishing you a great one ahead :^)

Ashley

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments