Leopard night quench.

[marc]

She had just been feeding on her Impala kill up the bank.
Sth Luangwa NP- Zambia.
Slight "green eye" repair work in CS3
D2Xs 300 f/2.8VR 1/250s ISO400 f/4@300 & Better Beamer -1.7EV

C & C most welcome

Cheers
Marc

[DaveB]

Noice! (although a bit yellow?)

It's fairly obvious though that the flash was directly attached to your camera rather than on a bracket above the lens. Generally I try to keep the light coming from above as it looks more natural (we're used to the sun being above us). But now I'm not sure if it would have been better here or not.

When were you there?

[marc]

Noice! (although a bit yellow?)

It's fairly obvious though that the flash was directly attached to your camera rather than on a bracket above the lens.

Hi Dave
The BB was definitely on a RRS bracket + Sidekick as in here:



At times you can never have the flash high enough IMO. And have at times got my wife to hold the BB+flash over
1.5 M's away.
This image was taken Sept 07, just in preparation for our 3 week trip to Botswana this Sept.

Cheers
Marc

[DaveB]

[
The BB was definitely on a RRS bracket + Sidekick as in here:

Then why is the light coming from the left? The shadow of the tail goes to the right, etc.

[marc]

Not sure Dave?
We were positioned up high on a ridge, I think I may have also had this actually off the bracket as well.
I have never used the BB actually ON the camera body.
Apologies for the confusion.

Cheers
Marc

[marcotrov]

Love the composition. Do agree with the slight yellowish nature of the image, love the great catch lights in the eyes would have been great to have the leopard staring right down the barrel too, but you can't have everything. Being super critical here Marc knowing the quality of your wildlife images but i feel the focus plane is centred on the front shoulder area and not the eyes which are a bit soft and detract somewhat from the overall impact of the image. It really brings home the principal if the eyes are sharp the image's other shortfalls are more easily overlooked.
cheers
marco

[marc]

Being super critical here Marc knowing the quality of your wildlife images but i feel the focus plane is centred on the front shoulder area and not the eyes which are a bit soft and detract somewhat from the overall impact of the image.
marco

I have to agree as well Marco. It was very difficult achieving correct focus on this Leopard on a moonless night.
This was one of the better ones from a batch.

Cheers
Marc

[radar]

Marc,

you are just teasing me aren't you!!!

It's all been said above but I still like the pose, regardless of some of the shortcomings.

Cheers,

André

[marc]

Have taken out the distracting shadow and sharpened the head as well.

[marc]

Have taken out the distracting shadow and sharpened the head as well.

[surenj]

I like the edited version..Shadow makes a big difference...

[muzz]

I like the edited version..Shadow makes a big difference...

[DaveB]

I like the edited version..Shadow makes a big difference...

I agree that the photo with less shadow (e.g. if the flash had been positioned above the camera) is much better, but I have to say I don't like the result here. The shadows are inconsistent (e.g. that of the head vs. that of the tail) and the shadow of the body has been removed by cloning. There's a lot of evidence of cloning here (e.g. repeated patterns).

In the context of a nature documentary image like this I don't think this is at all appropriate. In the context of illustrating possibilities in this thread it's OK, but I would hate to see this presented as a finished piece.

Cheers

[marc]

I like the edited version..Shadow makes a big difference...

In the context of a nature documentary image like this I don't think this is at all appropriate. In the context of illustrating possibilities in this thread it's OK, but I would hate to see this presented as a finished piece.

Cheers

Couldn't agree more Dave, this was just an exercise.
However, in nature photography (and other areas) do not be surprised by the lengths people go to submit works where I know they have been heavily edited in PS.

Cheers
Marc