I am not in the mood for pictures
This Leopard was not feeling at his most patient when I photographed him....in fact I think he may have wanted to eat me....
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This Leopard was not feeling at his most patient when I photographed him....in fact I think he may have wanted to eat me.
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Mar, 2016Views
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Awards
Contender in the Photography Awards
Action Award
Chatter Award
Zenith Award
Legendary Award
Contest Finalist in Animals In The Wild Photo Contest
Lucky 3 Award
Contest Finalist in Powerful Photo Contest
Member Selection Award
Featured
Contest Finalist in Celebrating Nature Photo Contest Vol 1
Contest Finalist in Living Creatures Photo Contest
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Magnificent Capture
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
Superior Skill
Genius
Emotions
Impressed
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took the photograph at a Big Cat Sanctuary. It is not generally open to the public so the location has to remain secret, although I can say it is in England. I had been invited to the sanctuary to photograph some white lion cubs that were having their first venture into the outside world.Time
We spent the whole day at the sanctuary and this shot was captured around 11.30 a.m. It was a fairly grey day and the Leopard had been snarling and coughing all morning so we made our way to his enclosure.Lighting
The light on the day was fairly flat and the sky was cloudy. To get the shot I had to up the iso to 2,000. I wanted to freeze the action completely and so needed a fast shutter speed but also I wanted an aperture setting that would allow the head to be in sharp focus with the body fading into a blur.Equipment
The equipment that I had at the time was a Nikon D800, with a Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 lens. Because the Leopard was moving around the compound a great deal and was obviously quite grumpy the shot was hand held with no flash used.Inspiration
My photography started at age 13, so many years ago, when I was given a Zenit E and I have always loved being outside and especially when shooting wildlife. Big Cats have always been a favourite of mine and my hard drives are full of all sorts of shots of them. It is very easy to get shots of cats being lazy in parks and sanctuaries but being invited to shoot the Lion cubs gave me a unique opportunity to get very close to the cats.The very fact that I was in so close caused the Leopard to react in an even stronger way than he had been. After watching him for a while and getting some full shots I knew I had to get a closer study of his snarls. I got as close as I was allowed to get for the shot and I love it.Editing
The post processing on the shot was mainly cropping and framing. I don't think it needed anything else as the snarl and the expression show just how he was feeling.In my camera bag
I recently bought myself a Nikon D5 and that is the first item into the bag, alongside that a collection of lenses, both telephoto and prime. The lenses I take very much depends on the shoot and what I am shooting. Alongside that I pack a flash and a light meter, a pair of binoculars my pad and a few bits and bobs of cleaning kit and spare batteries and cards. Normally one bag is not enough, I will quite often take my outside lights along and of course the batteries, modifiers and all the paraphernalia that goes with it.Feedback
Wildlife, even in a captive situation is always about patience. Watching your target species and knowing about its habits helps a great deal. This was not a contrived shot however, the Leopard really was in a foul mood and wanted to make a snack of me.To capture him with his eyes looking straight down the lens and snarling at me was still something fairly unusual. The more you know your camera and the quicker you can set it the better, so don't go out just hoping that everything will fall together....you have to plan, you have to watch, but most of all with wildlife photography you have to wait, wait, wait and if you are lucky and if you are on the ball you will get the shot you want.
