Butch Mazzuca
About the Image(s)
Canon 50D (crop frame) Canon 100-400 @ 260mm (416mm equivalent) ISO 640 - f8 - 1/90th second.
This shot taken on the Masai Mara in Kenya - we had stopped for our morning breakfast in the bush when I saw these three brothers off in the distance and I was hoping they’d come our way - they were about 200-250 yards away but they turned and started running in our general direction so I exchanged my coffee cup for a camera. Trying to shoot cheetahs in a sprint is REALLY difficult; and unless you’ve witnessed it, cheetahs are unbelievably fast. There was a Big Cat Diary vehicle in the area and they CHEAT! :-) - they had a sidecar attached to their safari vehicle where they had the cameras set up. Fortunately for me, these brothers weren’t hunting, and were just loping across the Mara. When I saw them start moving I guessed at 1/90th second TV - but even on high speed automatic I only got four shots off (they were still pretty fast) - and again fortunately, one of the four shots had the heads and tails separated - looking forward to the comments.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
6 comments posted
For me the image is a bit flat, increasing the contrast will give it more punch that fits with the story. I did that with the levels tool- just bringing in the black and white points. A surprise benefit of that ended up being that it emphasizes the light on their faces, which I didn't really notice to start with.
  Posted: 03/16/2025 14:40:36
I like Cindy's crop and how she brightened the animals. The background is brightened a bit, too, but not to a distractive degree, just enough to appreciate the horizontal lines in the panning.
  Posted: 03/20/2025 22:16:19