Cindy Marple
October 2025 - Asiatic Leopard
Original
About the Image(s)
About: The Asiatic Leopard was a target species for my photo tour in Sri Lanka and we were lucky to have some very good sightings. These leopards are smaller and darker than their African counterparts. This girl emerged from the brush to walk along the (dirt) roadway, we thought she was heading toward a waterhole. She stopped to look at a vehicle that pulled up behind us, giving this nice moment. We went ahead to the next waterhole and waited but she didn’t show up there.
Nikon Z8, 180-600 at 600mm, 1/800 f/6.3 ISO1400 handheld from our open safari vehicle.
Processing: Cropped, Adjusted exposure, used Levels and Dehaze to increase the contrast, Topaz Denoise.
4 comments posted
Cindy, I really like this photo. Your adjustments really pulled out the leopard's beautiful coloring. Nicely done. The slightly anxious, questioning look makes me wonder what it will do next. Is it thinking fight? Or is it thinking flight?
This led me to wonder if a different crop would tell a bigger story. What is the story told if the dark woods on the left is included?
Posted: 10/04/2025 23:33:04
This led me to wonder if a different crop would tell a bigger story. What is the story told if the dark woods on the left is included?
Posted: 10/04/2025 23:33:04
What a gorgeous leopard! I think the strength of the image is how the subject is looking right into the lens - it makes a connection with the viewer; we don't see many leopards in the wild looking into the camera, so great job capturing this moment. Technically I thought you did very good job as well, exposure, balance, DOF, detail, etc. Plus, you captured the subject with a paw off the ground which helps to animate the image. I think this would likely do well in a PSA competition -that said, if I were to make one suggestion in my VF I darkened both the fore and backgrounds slightly to help this image pop - Beautiful shot Cindy. Posted: 10/07/2025 13:55:52
With big cats the eyes are so powerful (sometimes even threatening) that they often make or break the shot. These eye are no exception. Plus in this image you have that raised mammoth sized paw that increases the concept of movement and thus makes the image stronger. I also like the profile so I get to see and enjoy the spot and I love the view of the muscular shoulders. My only thought Is that I would prefer to see the cat positioned a bit more to the right so he would have more space to move into. Unless the critter is coming straight at me I'm not a fan of centered weighted animal images. Posted: 10/15/2025 18:46:47
Hi Cindy, you always amaze with such great photos. Great job of cleaning it up. What a great opportunity you had here. I love leopards too. They are such beautiful animals, and difficult to get a shot such as this in Africa. I did not know an Asiatic version inhabited Sri Lanka. Cheers, Bud Posted: 10/21/2025 23:36:10