The local guide showing us the Torres del Paine area of Chile kept saying that “this is the trip where we’ll see a Puma”. Sure enough, as we drove back to our hotel through a light rain, there sat this Puma, calm as could be, looking out across the grassland. As our tour bus stopped, it didn’t even look. I got this shot out of the one small window in the bus that opened. (5D3, 100-400 @ 400 mm, 1/2000 s, f/5.6, iso 1600, hand held)
To get a shot of a cougar/puma has to be a once in a lifetime experience unless you’re a dedicated wildlife photographer and able to understand their habitat and behavior after great study. Anyway, the sharpness looks great, the lighting is even and pleasant. I like seeing the raindrops in the image when enlarged. I also like the distant mountains in the scene allowing for a sense of habitat recognizing these apex predators need a LOT of space to hunt/survive. I do wish I could see more of his/her face. Also, direction of gaze in mammals is very powerful to us humans, so we want to see what he/she sees. In the frame, the dark bush to the right looks to be where our gaze rests after identifying that he seems to be looking at something with intent. I’d be tempted to clone this out or dodge it so the luminance values are more similar to the neighboring grasses as we suspect this wouldn’t be his focal point.
A unique opportunity and you certainly made the best of it, Mark! I like the composition and the clarity is excellent. The large view is especially nice as it has much more presence and detail.
Mark: What a wonderful encounter. I do agree with Jim regarding the dark OOF bush and would make it go away. I really envy your opportunity. 
>=))>
Congrats, Mark. This is always a special find (even for me, having seen a lot of pumas in that area). It’s a nice surprise seeing those raindrops in the larger version. I like the added texture they provide.
Composition-wise, I’d crop from the bottom, just above that shadowy line in the field. Not only do I find the line distracting, but I think the puma is a bit too centered (vertically) in the frame, and cropping the bottom would solve this. As for the dark bush, if you have the pixels, I’d simply crop it out… you’d probably have to crop a bit from the left as well in order to maintain the balance and keep the cat fixed in the lower left third of the frame (the ideal spot, IMO, given the pose), but that choice may depend on how much this is already cropped. Note that I’m not a cloning advocate, so I always look to crop out distractions first.
Max
I love the way the Puma is looking away, Mark. It makes the landscape very appropriate. The dark bus doesn’t bother me, but I agree with Max about cropping up from the bottom, more to get rid of the out of focus foreground than anything.