South African Leopard

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This looks like a leopard that just woke up. The body looks completely relaxed. It would be much more interesting if the animal's body was in an alert/hunting posture and it had peered over the log in search of prey. The photo is well exposed and sharp. I do think that a little boost in contrast and vibrance would enhance the colours. Critique also left on Flickr.
 
My $0.02...
  1. Concept:
    • I like the idea of the Leopard peering over the log. Great idea
  2. Composition:
    • Either closer OR farther away would have been better (either a front half/head shot, or the full animal). The crop looks a little like you've missed a piece
    • The background is distracting. Sometimes there's just nothing you can do about it!
  3. Processing:
    • There are great noise reduction tools out there such as Topaz DeNoise or even just in Lightoom/Photoshop. I think you could have cleaned up almost all of the background noise without affecting sharpness and contrast
    • The colours are a little muted for my taste. I think you could raise vibrancy to bring it to life
Cheers!

-Chris
 
I love peeking shots.

I agree with Chris on the distance. I'd be tempted to crop in a bit tighter, I'm not 100% sure the back-end is adding anything. I too think a slight bump in vibrance would help - it also looks maybe just a touch on the yellow side.
 
Agreed on all. In terms of the yellow- for some reason it stood out to me that way, and I left it. The crop and the lack of vibrancy- I felt it added to the camouflage aspect. Thanks! I need more practice on my safari shots. Gotta get back!!!
 
So excited for this site!
I took this in 2017. I love the way she was peering over the log. Nikon D500; Nikkor 300mm f/4pf

Ok hit me!

Mike
I'm OK with the pose. But to me, the image looks flat. It could be a color correction, or maybe it just needed some Vibrance added in Lightroom. Is that what it looked like when you were standing in front of it? I doubt it. Great catch, great opportunity, just needs some life added to it.
 
My $0.02...
  1. Concept:
    • I like the idea of the Leopard peering over the log. Great idea
  2. Composition:
    • Either closer OR farther away would have been better (either a front half/head shot, or the full animal). The crop looks a little like you've missed a piece
    • The background is distracting. Sometimes there's just nothing you can do about it!
  3. Processing:
    • There are great noise reduction tools out there such as Topaz DeNoise or even just in Lightoom/Photoshop. I think you could have cleaned up almost all of the background noise without affecting sharpness and contrast
    • The colours are a little muted for my taste. I think you could raise vibrancy to bring it to life
Cheers!

-Chris
Thanks. Appreciate the time 🙂
 
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