Portrait of a Leopard

Such a lucky find, this guy was feeding on a Gazelle he'd dragged up a

tree (Mara Reserve, Africa). Had to use a 400 zoom + teleconverter to

get my maximum zoom from where we were parked up. That meant relying

on manual focus, and being handheld it's a miracle I got the image

this sharp

 

Your thoughts are welcome.

Hello Gavin...first of all you should consider yourself very lucky to have the privilege of a "clear" leopard shot in Masai Mara. I know by personal experience that...when and...if you have a chance, time is precious till this majestic cat simply disappears from your viewfinder...not to mention that most of those precious moments they prefer to stay well hidden on the tree! Now a comment about your shot...this is a very difficult effort cause due to the height of the tree you were oblidged to handheld this shot, without autofocus, under difficult light conditions. I find it very interesting that you managed not to "cut off" it's left eye, maintain sharpness and achieve this "sparkle" on the eyes which adds aesthetically even more. It is overall a very good portrait...difficult to capture, well done, regards, Teo