Cleaning Brothers Photo

Photographer’s Note

The same two Cheetah brothers I posted earlier. This was taken after they had eaten the Springbok. It was very interesting to watch, because they started cleaning each other, licking the blood of each other. In Africa nothing gets wasted!

An interesting fact about Cheetahs is that, unlike the rest of the cat family, their claws cannot retract. Note the claws of the Cheetah lying down.

Photo taken at 500mm (750mm on the D100) from a distance of over 100 meters, so I had to crop the original file quite a bit.

Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus):
Males weigh between 39 and 60kg. They hunt small to medium-sized antelope, ostriches, warthogs, hares and guinea fowl. They can get up to 12 years old. They prefer open woodland and savannah, and are usually found in pairs. They are diurnal, and most active at sunrise and sunset. During the hottest part of the day they rest in the shade of trees. They are the fastest of all land animals, reaching a speed of 100km/h and more over short distances.

MLINES, anducina, ViktorVaughn has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

clodreno (0) 2004-01-31 4:02

Nice image Henry. Very sharp.
I would love to see some animals like this .
By the way, are you using your D100 in jpeg or Raw?

Midnight_sun (1939) 2004-01-31 4:20

What a great nature shot, its quite unusual to see photos of them after the kill but it makes them seem more wild which i like. I think when i get a digital camera I'll get this one!
Good note too, well captured.

carper (64638) 2004-01-31 4:24

Henry my compliment for your photo.

It´s sharp, the colours a good, the composition is good, your note is good to, so it´s complete. May I give you the compliment, that your work,remember me, an the good photo´s of Callie. Very good work.

orme (6746) 2004-01-31 4:25

Excellent photo, Henry. This is a great follow-up picture to your 'After the kill' shot. Another title for this shot might have been, "We are not savages you know!". The colours of the cheetahs look wonderful, against this almost B/W background. Well captured.

Darren (6817) 2004-01-31 4:39

Very nice shot Henry, and considering how far you were everything works well. I do think the distance hurt you in two areas. First, because you were so distant, you have quite a wide DOF, so the cats don't really jump out from their surroundings. Nothing you could do about that however. Also, it appears to me you caught the focus just a little in front of the cats' heads. For both cheetahs, their butts look a little sharper than their heads. Again, considering you took this from 100m away, this is really a great shot and something I feel you were lucky to experience.

Jeppe (18623) 2004-01-31 4:41

Very nice image - sharp and bright - and a bit dramatic too, not a picture one normally finds in books - Well captured and thanks for sharing Henry.

cxxl (2680) 2004-01-31 5:09

Wow... this could equally have been titled "Washing up after dinner" :) Very interesting capture showing the brutal reality of nature. Well done. I havn't seen this in a zoo!
(btw: that JPG artifact is still in the background, Nikon problem or post processing?)

maciekda (19587) 2004-01-31 5:20

oh, what a scene... I see some red color there... you have a lot of interesting pictures showing wild life... I prefer scenes with some human presence ;-) but I must admit it is a very good work

PechePassion (483) 2004-01-31 5:22

Super photo , super commentaire , on ne rien de plus que c'est une grande photo animaliere !

en revanche si quelqu'un pouvais me dire ce qu'est un "Springbok" je ne vois pas de traduction :-(

avigur_11 (21273) 2004-01-31 5:24

Azing shot, Henry. This should be a very hard to shoot. This one and "After The kill" shoe those cheetas in their real life, not just in a photo opportunity. Very well captured. Very well done Henry.

Rupes (913) 2004-01-31 7:44

Very nice this wildlife scene!
Good note and well captured!

jrj (34779) 2004-01-31 11:16

Incredible such a shot with these details from the wild life. I think the cleaning process also have to do with removing the smell of blood. Interesting your comment of the claws. Never knew that. Well done Henrye.

jhm (82319) 2004-01-31 11:47

It´s sharp, the colours a good, the composition is good, your note is good to, so it´s complete. Good note too, well captured.

nwoehnl (118) 2004-01-31 11:53

A stunning shot, Henry. The way the cheetahs stand out against the almost b&w surroundings draws even more attention to this genuine scene. This looks like the real thing to me, nothing like the often sad sight of domesticated tigers in zoos. Very well captured and thanks for your great note.

eelliott305 (776) 2004-01-31 12:24

Another wonderful shot Henry, just as good as your previous one with the cheetahs. Amazing detail again. I was curious how far away you were from the animals and you have answered in your interesting notes.

CoolDan (2490) 2004-01-31 17:16

Superbe photo d'une scène dramatique de la vie sauvage: manger ou crever de faim. Very well done Henry.

manny (21378) 2004-02-01 6:37

Interesting! This angle looks more friendly than the first one that you posted of them. Despite the bloody remnants, they do appear caring and brotherly. It is the angle that you chose that creates such effect.

PLD_images (7141) 2004-02-01 15:00

Great capture of moment Henry. I like the action in this shot. The definition on the cats is really well done. The blured DOF created by the long focal helps to focus the attention on them. Another great shot.

seiliv (317) 2004-02-03 10:07

Like the composition with one laying and one standing. Like the DOF, the color, lines and the scene too. Well done!

dsidwell (9745) 2004-02-03 15:40

Very nice image, Henry! My daughter says it's one of her favorites. She loves cheetahs and any big cats. I love how the cats stand out as so colorful against their blander surroundings.

nbournas (3223) 2005-04-25 20:33

Very nice work from the Sigma. I never expeected this image quality from this zoom lens.

Thanks

Nick

MLINES (10870) 2006-02-12 16:57

Great capture here. Appropriate titleby the look of it. Good nature photo. You have got them when they look engrossed in a chore, without awareness of you being near. Well done.

yella (0) 2006-09-24 12:12

beautifull sharpeness and motiv. well done!

webberworldwide (87) 2007-04-04 1:23