Cheetah on the ridge

Gallery: WildlifePosted June 7, 2011150 views15 comments

We spent a wonderful morning in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park with a female cheetah and her 2 sub-adult cubs.

The one cub was lying on a calcrete ridge a short distance from the others, and at one point got up to walk towards the rest of its family. There was some potential prey in the dry riverbed below and the cub assumed a "stalking" gait. I used the 100-400mm to its full potential to get some varying perspectives on this scene, depicting the cub against the blue Kalahari sky.

Techs:
Canon 7D with 100-400mm L IS USM @ 220mm
f8.0 @ 1/1250 SS @ ISO-400

Comments

15 comments

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on June 7, 2011 at 8:29 PM

Very effective pov, Morkel. The hump on its back looks real prominent against that sky. Like the comp, as well.

Registered on April 10, 2009, 292 Posts, 3967 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on June 7, 2011 at 10:29 PM

Love it Morkel, the sky is a wonderful background to the Cheetah. The tenseness in the animals body is evident.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Kedar Bhat on June 7, 2011 at 11:48 PM

Beautiful composition

Registered on April 7, 2008, 77 Posts, 357 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Canuel on June 8, 2011 at 12:55 AM

I'm a big fan of animal on ridge shots and this is one I really like (seems I may have seen this one somewhere before

). I like the pose of the cat, the surrounding brush, and the hint of clouds in the sky. Might even like to see the clouds just a touch whiter/brighter to balance out some of the brighter spots in the dirt.

Registered on September 12, 2010, 53 Posts, 660 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on June 8, 2011 at 2:21 AM

I'd have been happy enough to see this Cheetah set against a completely white sky, but seeing it like this against such a marvelous tine of blue blows me away! Absolutely wonderful Morkel and I love your choice of composition :^)

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

Comment posted by Brad Hill on June 8, 2011 at 9:32 AM

Hey Morkel,

Very simple, clean, classic composition that works just fine! Frame is split weill (to my taste) and the techs look spot on. Well done!

Cheers...thanks for sharing this...

Brad

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

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on June 8, 2011 at 11:10 AM

A very solid and pleasing to look at image Morkel. Blue and yellow are great complimentary colors and that color combo is one of the strong points of this image. I am nit-picking now, but ideally the bush under the cheetahs head would not be there. I realize that was not within your control, except maybe for shooting him a when it was still more to the left.

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

Comment posted by Neal Cooper on June 8, 2011 at 1:07 PM

Very nice Morkel. I was wondering what the image would look like with less calcrete. It is almost overpowering in the image. I like the fluffy fur on the back of its neck and the low head position. NIce sighting though.

Registered on June 3, 2009, 144 Posts, 306 Comments

Comment posted by Harshad Barve on June 8, 2011 at 9:43 PM

this is fantastic

Registered on July 25, 2010, 39 Posts, 210 Comments

Comment posted by Sandipan Dutta on June 9, 2011 at 2:25 PM

A great idea to include the sky here ... The colour contrast works very well.

Registered on March 9, 2009, 171 Posts, 493 Comments

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on June 10, 2011 at 4:29 PM

thanks very much for your comments folks...

Vincent - I have a few frames of the cheetah walking on the ridge, most at different focal lengths. In this one the pose was the big drawing card for my eye and the bush under the head negligible

Neal - I see your point on the ridge...might look at recropping this one and see how it looks...

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

Comment posted by Darren Colello on June 10, 2011 at 7:45 PM

Very unique image and I love it. Lovely colours and the comp is superb. Well done!!!!

Registered on July 27, 2009, 175 Posts, 1100 Comments

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on June 12, 2011 at 4:04 AM

Very nicely done ! Blue sky is a big plus here.
Jagdeep Rajput

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

Comment posted by Billy Fairburn on June 12, 2011 at 4:28 AM

Fantastic Morkel! I wouldn't change a thing!

Registered on March 3, 2007, 123 Posts, 717 Comments

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on June 12, 2011 at 1:53 PM

thanks for your comments Jagdeep, Billy and Darren...

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