Sometimes a visit to the zoo is like a game of I Spy, as in good luck finding anyone out and about. Not so a few days ago on a cool autumn morning, a lot of animals were out enjoying a bit of the morning sunshine, including this cheetah:
ISO 800 f/5.6 1/250 0ev 200mm
Usually when I am taking animal photos I try to get a shot with their eyes in focus. In this case, there was something I liked about the photos with its eyes closed. A bit relaxed and aloof at the same time. While I was shooting that morning I had set my ISO to 800 because I felt like with the sun going in and out, 800 would cover the changing conditions. I had my shutter speed at 250 because a lot of the animals were moving around, and that speed was enough to capture that motion. In this particular photo, that wasn’t really necessary. I have not done much post processing with this photo, the original is below, and you can see the biggest change is the cropping:
ISO 800 f/5.6 1/250 0ev 200mm
In this case I was mindful of the rule of thirds, and placed the cheetah’s closed eyes along one of those rule of thirds grid lines. I think keeping it simple in this case made for a good photo, but what do you think? Feel free to leave a comment below.
Cheers!
Photography Journal Blog 
Bravely shot!
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Easy to be brave when there is a barrier between you 🙂
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ha ha..
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Looking very royal while resting!
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I thought so too 🙂
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luv
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Thanks!
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i hope i get followers like u have tips
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The bottom could be cropped up closer to the animal similar to how Robert Bateman painted “Cheetah Siesta”:
http://www.artcountrycanada.com/bateman-robert-cheetah-siesta.htm
As much as I think that’s doable; however, I think your cropping (first image) is best for this, especially how you took the sides in and eliminated the distracting tree.
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That is an interesting crop. For mine, I thought that the tree definitely had to go.
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Love what you did there, Amy. The final cropped photo looks a bit more vibrant than the first one. Cropping certainly changes the perspective of a photo, a lot of time for the better. There is only so much we can fit into a shot sometimes, and there is only so much time to snap a shot too 🙂
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It’s true, a crop can change a lot!
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They’re such beautiful animals, P J B, and in this case you did a super job with the cropping!
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They really are, it’s just rare that I get to see this one resting. It seems to always be in motion or hiding somewhere.
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How regal he looks! Love the cropping Amy. 🙂
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Thanks!
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ur welcome i hope i have alot of follower like u
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I agree with keeping it simple and I love your clever take in the eye prompt! His sleepy feel is relaxed and so nice- and I also like how you pointed out the rule of thirds line – and I read the comment about the crop being up – but I actually liked it exactly as you left it – I found that my eyes kept going from tree on left to tail to face – to tree on right – and when we learn about the rule of thirds in painting – we talk about how it has to do with the viewer’s eyes and if they bounce off right away (like in bulls eye position) or does the viewer’s eye stay and come back again – so from that angle I felt like I kept really soaking up the composition – and even the leaves and color of the fur work well too . Very nice .
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Thanks! the link to show the crop being up was an interesting photo. I say interesting because I felt like if I had cropped it that way, it would have been a different photo. The idea that you can change that much just with a simple crop is interesting to me. In this case, I think leaving so much on the bottom allows the view to kind of wander into the photo, which I think fits in this case.
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hmmmm – yes – well said
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🙂
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They look so majestic ….
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Thanks!
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