The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive
About This Image
We were in Lower Zambezi National Park. We saw this 13-14 year old female leopard. She was a bit beat up with her left eye injured and her left ear hanging down. The guide thought it was either a spat with a younger female or perhaps a mishap when taking down prey. Despite her obvious injuries she still had the big cat attitude and strut. Definitely a warrior
Feedback Requested
I would appreciate any thoughts and advice on the composition and framing. Any other recommendations on making the photo better are always welcome. Thank you all for sharing your expertise.
Technical Details
Canon R5m2
RF 100-500
ISO 10000. 500mm. f7.1. 1/400
@Timothy_Sunderland, I really like this image, especially because it shows so beautifully just how effective the leopard’s camouflage is. Its coat almost seems to dissolve into the colors and texture of the surroundings.
This made me wonder whether showing more of the environment might emphasize that aspect even further. With the leopard somewhat smaller in the frame, I think the viewer might have to “discover” it first, making the camouflage itself an even stronger part of the image rather than the photograph being primarily a portrait of the animal.
Of course, I don’t know what was outside the original frame or whether a wider composition was possible at the time. But since the idea intrigued me, I made a very rough Photoshop mock-up simply to illustrate what I mean. Please don’t judge the editing — it is far from perfect and only intended to visualize the idea.
I’d be curious what you think. For me, the wider view changes the image from a very good leopard portrait into something more about the animal’s relationship with its environment and its remarkable camouflage.
Oh! The poor old girl. A little tattered but still quite regal.
Timothy, there’s some funky colours happening here, particularly where she is whitest. I have never seen a cheetah in real life so can’t comment on the head colour.
The background looks a little wierd in places and wonder if these can be smoothed over.
I like @horst comment and this could work for you. A different approach might be to crop a little from the top, RHS and bottom. I’ve gone a bit overboard witht he B&W but it gives another alternative.
@Glenys_Passier oh - that’s apretty good idea as well. I’d also like to see both Glenys’ idea and mine combined - that could make the camouflage even more interesting. In this case, I would leave the contrast low - to make it harder for the viewer to find the animal.
Hi Tim
The shape of the leopard is not helped/matched by the shape of the frame. I think more of a square crop would provide better balance for the image - then you can decide whether to go central with the poor big cat or a little to the right with room to move in the frame.
I do like Glenys’s crop.
There is a bit of chromatic aberration evident which may have been how hard you were pushing your lens, but it’s a nice shot. If your story about the injury and warrior you need to stay in close. Mono is definitely a possibility and might be the way to go playing with the amount of contrast for the right feel for you.
Thank you Glenys. I will definitely work on cleaning up the background and colors. I think some of the color issues were from shooting at such a high ISO. It was getting a bit dark and I was balancing my shutter speed and the ISO. I like your framing and the B&W.
Thank you Huw. I like your idea of trying the square cropping. I also think your correct about the chromatic aberration being secondary to pushing the ISO to 10000.
@timothy3 you mentioned it was getting dark when you took the shot. So here’s a version of your pic with “my” crop that I suggested in my post above, emphasizing camouflage, and with changed color, adapted to early evening light. I used AI to do that quickly. By the way, since I’m new: I did not find that in FAQ or anywhere esle: is there a policy around the usage of AI here?
