I love cats Sandy. How adorable this couple is. I like the mother being in the center of both the image and the cub’s world. I can’t think of a way to tame that BG, other than possibly a little vignette? Beautiful details in the fur and spots on both.
Spectacular portrait. Big thumbs up for me. Aren’t these guys illusive, and hard to find? What a find! The only little thing that I would look at would be to select the BG area behind mama’s left ear and forehead and carefully clone out the last part of that branch just enough to keep it from interfering with the ear.
As does Ed, I, too, love cats. Fantastic image. I am not concerned with the background. It’s their home environment. Besides, it’s difficult for me to be distracted by their surroundings when they are so darn beautiful. The lick and the cub’s closed eyes raise it to the spectacular level. Excellent.
@Dave_Douglass Yes, they are quite elusive and not easy to find. But, a good guide on a photo workshop knows where they hang out, the riverbanks they walk along, and the time of day they are likely to be around. We saw at least 7 different jaguars. Interestingly, they are identified by the pattern of spots on the forhead, and every one is closely studied by the research groups, and all have names.
This mom and cub were extremely cooperative and hung around this area in the open for at least an hour, just doing their thing and paying no attention at all to the boats.
Also, sadly, it can be a bit like the “bear jams” at Yellowstone - one Guide finds a jaguar and radios others, so there is soon a whole mob of boats sometimes. The jags walk along the riverbanks looking for the caimen they eat almost exclusively, and the boats are in the river in front of them, maybe 100 yards away or so. The jags are fiercely protected and never harmed, so they are quite tolerant of all the boats, people, and shutter clicks. The biggest problem is the lighting, since the caimen the jags eat don’t come out to sun on the riverbanks until mid-day, and the sun is very brutal.
@JRajput
Hi, Jagdeep - there is a very simple reason I was at F14 :
I screwed up!
Actually, I meant to be at F10 or so, since the cub was rarely in the same POF as mom. Thanks for your kind comments.
