Young leopard w repost

Gallery: WildlifePosted March 16, 2015182 views11 comments

First animal we spotted after entering Kgalagadi was this young female leopard, resting under a tree. She was idly watching the flies around her for quite a while. We sticked around until she strolled off. It was a great start to a great trip.

Any comments or critiques is greatly appreciated.

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Botswana/South Africa
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM @ 400
Shutter Speed: 1/250 Sec.
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 800
Metering Mode: Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation: 0

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on March 16, 2015 at 9:21 PM

A wonderful shot. Great non-obtrusive environment surrounding this beautiful animal. Love the tongue action.

Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on March 17, 2015 at 7:42 AM

Really like this. Those eyes and that tongue make the image for me. She is nicely isolated from the background. If you have the space, I would move the leopard to the left so that there is more space in the direction she is looking. Well done.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Thomas Haney on March 17, 2015 at 7:45 AM

What a shot Johan! The pose and exposure are great, and I like the chaotic yet uniform background. Well done!

Registered on April 7, 2013, 138 Posts, 537 Comments

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on March 17, 2015 at 10:43 AM

Beautiful frame n love that sparkling eye!
Johan, if this was mine, I would do two things.
Increase the saturation of leopard and unsharpen or rather selectively blur out the small patch of land in focus.
Jagdeep Rajput

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

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on March 18, 2015 at 4:39 PM

Lovely angle and subject, Johan! As a frequent visitor to Kgalagadi who has yet to see my first leopard there this makes me green

Did you add additional blur all around the subject? It looks a bit like it - hence I ask?

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

Comment posted by Johan Malmros on March 18, 2015 at 6:25 PM

Thanks for your nice comments.
Jerry: I wish for some more space as well, but this is full frame. Cropping some from the other side gives the illusion of a little more space at least, so I am considering that.
Jagdeep: I will try out your suggestions and see how they work for me.
Morkel: Yes, really lucky with this sighting. No blur added, but I decreased the contrast a little, which might have given a similar feel. (Some sharpening of the leopard of course.)

Registered on January 6, 2011, 20 Posts, 154 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on March 19, 2015 at 10:17 PM

Super pose, soft lighting and great low angle Johan

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Johan Malmros on March 21, 2015 at 7:20 AM

Cropped from one side and added some saturation as response to the comments from Jerry and Jagdeep.
(Tried the blurring of the ground as well Jagdeep, but I preferred it in focus.)

Please, let me know what you think as compared to the original.

Registered on January 6, 2011, 20 Posts, 154 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on March 21, 2015 at 9:16 AM

Hi Johan,

Very nice! The tongue and eye are fantastic, with great "eye-pulling" power. I like the subtle colour on the original post (compared to the re-post). I also prefer the original crop over the tighter re-post...so for me the original beats the re-post all-round.

My only very minor "nit" here pertains to the the somewhat chaotic lines (OOF branches I presume) in the background. This is obviously an "in a perfect world" comment as you couldn't do anything about them (but this would be so sweet if it had a "cleaner" background).

Thanks for sharing this one - it's a real pleasure to look at it.

Cheers...

Brad

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

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on March 21, 2015 at 11:27 AM

Hi Johan!
I prefer the original crop, but the coat and tongue, I prefer in the repost.
As for the blurring of the ground, this size is quite small to judge that.
Jagdeep Rajput

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

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on March 26, 2015 at 8:13 AM

Johan,
I like this in ether form, like Morkel I have never seen a Leopard in Kgalagdi

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments