More Africa in Monochrome

I have recently been intrigued with how interesting African wildlife looks in monochrome.  I took this photo of a beautiful leopard while on safari at Okonjima Private Reserve in Namibia.  This was our first opportunity in four African safaris to actually see a leopard in the wild.  I took this picture with a Nikon D300 and the original Nikon 80-400mm lens.  ISO 800, f5.6, 1/2000 second.  I converted the photo to monochrome in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

This image will shortly be displayed on my daughter's wall in Denver as a 16 X 20 inch print.

Quiver Trees and Impalas - Namibia

This is the ghostly Namibian desert in southeast Africa. During our 3 week driving trip in Namibia in 2011 we drove as much as 300 kilometers at a time through landscape just like this...gravel road, few or no other automobiles.  My interest in this photo was to feature the threatened Quiver trees in the foreground.  I accomplished this with the new Radial Filter in Lightroom 5.  I will be interested in your thoughts.

 

This is one of my favorite photos from my 2011 trip to Namibia.  A pair of Impalas are sparring in the wilderness in Etosha National Park. It is always fun to go back and take another look at photos that you have taken earlier to see if you can give them a new treatment.   This was the first time that I have converted this photo to monochrome.  What do you think?