Unrequited Love

Nice intimate image.
I particularly like that there are only two dominant colors (apart from the eye and tongue).
If this is a 50% crop, I wonder whether you cropped out anything on the left, I belief I would like to see a little more of the left animal.

Never seen a King Cheetah. Would love to though.
I am not sure whether King Cheetahs are a sub-species, or "only" a morph variation.

Thx for posting
Jef

Nice close portrait, but I do wish there was more of the cheetah on the left showing. It has been several years since I paid any attention to cheetahs, but I do believe the King is considered a color phase and not a sub-species. But, thinks could have changed.

I like the moment here Ashley, and the light is great, though I would have loved to see more of the "king cheetah" as their markings are truly wonderful...perhaps post the 'uncropped' version?

Was this at "De Wildt Cheetah Centre" in South Africa?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and comments Jef, John, and Morkel :^)

In retrospect, I would probably have been better off showing you first an image of this King Cheetah as a full body shot (of which of course I have a few!) as this would have allowed you to appreciate her in all her glory, then maybe a close-up like this would allow more attention to focus on the concept I was going for with this frame, with the desire to see more of her a little less important. Not to worry, I'll be sure to make my next post one of her standing up ;^)

The main reason why I chose this tight crop was that I wanted to zero in on the female, making her undoubtedly the dominant subject in the frame, as she was indeed in that situation. I still could also have achieved this by showing at least a little more of the male Cheetah's face, but doing so centered the female's eye, which I didn't want.

I'm always open to different points of view on what each person may consider would make for a more pleasing choice of composition, and on several occasions when they've been offered to me on the NPN I have tended to agree with them. In this particular case, while still appreciating other people's preferences, the way I've framed this moment is very much how I like it.

Morkel: Another name the reserve is known by is Tshukudu.

As to the King Cheetah being a subspecies or not, here's some info I found on Wikipedia:

"Acinonyx rex—the king cheetah was abandoned as a subspecies after it was discovered the variation was caused by a single recessive gene ... "

Thanks again one and all for offering your feedback and opinions, as always, they are genuinely appreciated :^)

Thanks for the clarification, Vincent! I, too, thought that the king cheetah is only a morph; would give my right arm to just see one!

Nice interaction and I really like the color in the eye. Nice light as well.

Lovely interaction. Her face says it all. Just not interested. Hopefully she will change her mind if the brothers continue to woo her.

Thanks for your comments Dan and Sally :^)

Wonderful image. I like the crop as it really focuses the attention and increases the sense of sharing this moment of intimacy. Nice job.

I like the intimacy of this shot ashley, but I think it looses a little of it for me with having half the head of the King Cheetah missing from the frame. Not sure if this is full frame or not, but if a crop, I think loosing more from the right and having more on the left would suit the behavior more.

A wonderful tender moment you have captured here Ashley. Cheetahs are incredible creatures and I always enjoy viewing images of them. Spectacular work here imo. Great detail and comp.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and comments Dan, Kurt, and Darren :^)