Cheetah families

by Jim Zuckerman

I am in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve right now, and my photo tour got lucky  today .  We photographed   two  different female cheetahs with cubs.  The first was in beautiful  lighting – we arrived  just as the sun was rising – and these are the first two shots you see here.  What was especially dramatic was how the low angled sunlight shined in the eyes of the cheetahs.  As soon as the sun rises higher in the sky, eye lids cast a shadow on the eyes that obscures some of the cats’ expressions.  When the sun is low enough to penetrate and make that intense yellow/orange color of the iris stand out, it’s incredibly compelling. 

When the female walked toward our vehicles, I was shooting out the side window of the van instead of the roof to get that intimate eye-to-eye perspective.  It’s a challenge to focus as the cheetah walks right toward the lens because the critical plane of focus changes every millisecond.  I used AI servo on my Canon – which I don’t trust – but I would release it and re-focus every second or so .  Some of the pictures weren’t tack sharp, but I got one that was.

The other picture was taken as the mother and cubs rested under a bush for shade.  It was about  11 am, and I shot tight to eliminate as much of the bright background as I could.  I used Photoshop to somewhat darken the sunny area in the upper right section of the image because I didn’t want any distracting highlights to take attention away from the subjects.  The interaction between the mother and cubs was fantastic to watch.

Comments

[Stefania]

lovely kitties... the lighting is amazing... great shots Jim