The Leopard's Spots

Hi Ashley. I haven't photographed in a zoo, but I can understand the constraints that glass and walls and fences and other man made structures impose. I like the tightly cropped intimate feel that you went for here. Their appears to be some color casts unfortunately, but not unexpected for the conditions. I wonder how this would have turned out if you deliberately underexposed it for some drama/mystery - as in a dark forest sort of way? The color casts might be a non issue then, but I'm just guessing. Just a thought.

That colors cast gives a kind of vintage look . I would consider cropping even tighter on those eyes. Interesting picture.

I really like the focus on the eye. It is the center of the image. I may be tempted to crop just a little more from the right to focus even more of the eye. Well seen.

Hi Ashley,

Interesting idea, interesting image. I do see the colour cast, but this is something that is easily remedied. Personally, if this were mine, I think I'd carry the idea a little further and crop a little tighter - taking more off top and bottom (and possibly the right side for balance). I'd do this because your current framing almost looks like an accidental clipping (especially on top) of parts of the subject (like those whiskers on your female lion) and is thus a little distracting. By going tighter it becomes clear (tho' subliminally) that it was intentional AND the image would take on an even more abstract nature. Just my 2 cents worth!

Cheers...

Brad

Hi Ashley, IMHO the mass of OOF spots on the right are too distracting. I would suggest cropping off a good amount, keeping tight on the leopards head and eyes. Thanks for sharing.

I like it. The eyes are captivating. It has a nice abstract quality to it. Would love to see it with Brad's suggested crop.

Hi Ashley, interesting shot and well executed considering the tricky conditions, 1/30 sec at 3200 iso shows what you were up against, still you have it nice and sharp on the eye. IMHO, the composition is tricky, I would like to see the eye closer to the top third of the frame, crop a bit off the left (lose all evidence of both ears), and to include more of the whiskers and bottom jaw (if you have it) however, it looks like the body will not extend that far down in the frame. I like the OOF rosettes :) cheers Stu

Risky composition but interesting idea. I would prefer not to cut the nose of the animal. I agree about the colour cast.

OK first and foremost, major thanks Gary, Andrius, Richard, Brad, John, Sally, Stu, and Oscar, for taking such interest in this image and for sharing what I consider to be your valued thoughts, opinions and suggestions, all of which are genuinely appreciated :^)

I read the first few comments last night after returning home from a long, but very pleasant day out with my family and, taking to heart what I'd read, I attempted to rework this image again. But each time I tried a different crop there always seemed to be something that was missing or just didn't work well to my eye. Tired and frustrated as I was, I'd decided to give up trying and simply leave thanks for those that had already left comments, but when I posted my response I saw Brad had just posted his comment, that was pretty much in agreement with the others, which had me thinking perhaps I should give this another shot in the morning, which is now what I've done ;^)

Working from the original RAW image, I shifted the Exposure slider down to -55, from there I increased the Blacks to strengthen some of the colour lost by way of having shot this image through glass, as well as adding a touch of Vibrance. After sharpening a bit and working the eye some with the Dodge tool, I also cleaned up the fur a little. One thing I left alone this time was the Surface Blur on the OOF body, as I felt the gain was not too much of a distraction and, chances are, the effect I'd previously created with Surface Blur might have been the element that led to what some referred to as "colour cast", although I could well be wrong.

Having once again tried numerous variations of crops I finally settled on this one, as it seemed closest to most of the suggestions made while still maintaining something of the effect I was going for. Perhaps some of you would prefer to see the eye even more set to center, but any more centered than I have it here just seemed too much, as I really wanted more space in front of the subject's gaze than behind it's head.

Although I did crop more from the top and bottom (as well as the right), I kept the eye pretty much in the middle of the frame, as completely removing the nose really didn't seem to work. I guess there's any number of different ways to crop this, though I hope this version is more pleasing that the original one to most.

More than happy to receive further remarks, opinions and/or advice. Thanks again for your time and interest and wishing you all a great one ahead :^)

Ashley

Ashley, I really like what you were going for on this. I think Brad's idea of cropping even more off the top is a great one. I would crop just below the ears. Unfortunately, I can see some reflection and can tell there was glass, but fixing the color cast might help get rid of that illusion. Love to see people thinking outside the box!

Thanks for your comment and suggestion Kurt :^)

I tried a number of different ways to crop this again to eliminate the ear completely, and I reckon the best way to do it is as a pano, which may well be what you and others were thinking when the suggestion of removing the ears were first made, but no one actually said it, so I had to see it for myself ;^)

Thanks again to everyone who left remarks and suggestions :^)

Ashley