I took this on safari in the Serengeti and I'm trying to learn — especially editing. What retouches can I do? Tell me what you'd change.

A leopard dozing along an acacia branch in the Serengeti, one front leg and the tail hanging down, dappled light through the leaves.

I took this leopard in the Serengeti, in the middle of the day — the light wasn’t great. I’m a beginner and I’d love some pointers, especially on editing: what retouches would you make, and how could I have shot it better in the first place?

I’m writing up the whole build-your-own-safari trip here → https://diysafari.club/leopard/

Thanks!

  • diysafariOP
    2·
    6 days ago

    Thank you very much for your insight, it goes a bit over my head, but that is what I was looking for.

    My concerns about the picture are:

    1. It is a bit flat, it doesn’t pop out, but I am glad of your perspective that it does not need to do so.
    2. The sky is too light, especially on the lower part, it feels unbalanced to me.
    3. Due to number 2, I was thinking of changing the framing, so centering the image.
    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️English
      3·
      6 days ago

      You could always crop it if you wanted to center more on the kitty. I suspect you have the pixels available; If you went out on a safari to even be able to take this excellent photo in the first place, I’ll bet you didn’t do it with a wind up disposable point-and-shoot!

      • cuerdo
        1·
        3 days ago

        I went ballistic with croping and color, I ended up with a cartoonish image, but i think it works somehow.

        In general, my favourite edit was by Trives, I put them all together with a slider here https://diysafari.club/leopard/