Are the foreground and background too busy to consider this a successful picture? Well, both front and back are, indeed, very busy and in fact they are what I'd call a compositional mess. However, I still like the picture. I like the colors, I like the fact that we can appreciate the great camouflage, and I like the curl of the tail and the cat's steadfast gaze. The one branch in front of the leopard's shoulder could be cloned out, but this is a very natural picture that shows this magnificent animal in its natural enviornment. I have a lot of pictures of leopards in the open, and I like those, too, but I think this one is particularly captivating. Another aspect of this that I like is the eye-to-eye perspective. The ground on which the leopard was walking was raised a bit, and that gave me a more intimate portrait. The settings for this picture were: The new Canon 100-400mm lens set to 255mm, 1/400th of a second, f/6.3, 800 ISO with a 7D Mark II.
2 Comments
Jul 13, 2015, 8:08:42 AM
janie Greene - I would clone the out of focus stick on the left triangle near eh leopard's head too.
It's a great photo, and I like the leaves and the colorful background. JG
Jul 12, 2015, 5:27:26 PM
Stan Greenberg - Jim:
What was your focus point strategy for this picture? (referring to your article in PHOTO INSIGHTS, March, 2015).