Cheetah in low angled light

One of the advantages of shooting when the sun is low in the sky is that the angle of the light directly illuminates the eyes of animals. During midday, the eyes are usually in shadow. In this case, the cheetah's yellow/orange eyes are so bright and saturated in color that they compel our attention. The cat was exceptionally close to our Land Rover in Kenya, and that enabled me to use a short telephoto -- a 70-200mm lens. At 150mm, I was able to take a dynamic portrait. I would have preferred to be 3 or 4 feet lower (most safari vehicles seat photographers 5 or 6 feet above the ground), but still -- the way the cheetah is hunched and staring at me made the shot. My settings were 1/400, f/14, and 320 ISO.