A Leopard Cub

[Kiran Khanzode]

Certainly not the best in terms of lighting, but the image has some other things going for it. Be it Kanha, Corbett , Serengeti or the Mara, photography of leopards is just too tough, I must say...they just don't give you enough time. I saw 5 leopards in this trip, a visual treat for me. Capturing them nicely in the camera was another story... I have been chasing them for a while to get some decent shots. This cub gave me literally 2 seconds on the road and then fled in the direction his mother and sister had gone. It was taken in the mid-day sun ( ~11 am), he came out of a thicket 50 yards in front of us (surrounded by the shrill alarm calls of Langurs and Cheetal which had been ongoing for 5 minutes or so), his mother and sister crossed the road so fast that all I got in my camera was 2 blurry shots. At least, now I knew what distance I had to pre-focus my camera at. This little guy, however, came running out of the bush right behind his family and just hopped on the road and stopped, stared at me and fled. That's it, 2 seconds,....Argh !!!! I hate leopards, no, I don't ! :-). This was a pretty unique sighting considering the forest officials had only seen the mother and these cubs once before (in the season). This little guy's age could be anywhere from 6-12 months. There's a lot of things that could be better in this image, but considering the rarity of a leopard cub, sharing with you all. I just had no time whatsoever to re-adjust any settings.

Techs: EOS 7D, 300 2.8 IS at 2.8, ISO 800, hand-held. PP: Saturation, brightness, some noise reduction, sharpening

My quest for Leopards will continue in the Serengeti.....so, help me God ! :-)

Regards,

Kiran

[David Fletcher]

Fabulous sighting Kiran. Good luck with your Leopard quest. There is a place I know of, that has them falling out of the trees. (LOL) Love the eye contact and crop choice. WD!

[Alfred Forns]

Mighty fine Kiran It is a special image for the reasons given ...and you reacted fast !!!

Love the sneaking pose and eye contact !!!

[D. Robert Franz]

Like the pose and you handled the lighting as well as could be expected.. Well done

[Harshad Barve]

Man I HATE you:):):):):)

One gem for sure
TFS

[Marc Mol]

Great shot Kiran, this image says everything about the Leopard. The crouching pose and sideways glance, well done!

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

I know what you mean Kiran. In my mutiple trips to tiger reserves and other jungles in India with leopards, I've never seen one in the wild. This is really really good....very very dramatic. The crouch, the look, the raised paw, the low angle....has everything it needs to IMO.

[peter delaney]

congratulations ,Kiran. I know how frustrating it is to find and photograph leopards. I travelled around Africa for a year and did not see one!! I have one that visits our property , 3 nights ago he killed on our fence line 50 meters from our house.. still cant capture him ...will have to invest in camera trap...

anyway , love the image , classic cub pose ! well done

peter

[Vivek Khanzode]

WOW!! What a story and what a shot to go with it. We roamed for a couple of days on the last trip and never saw the leopard. They are just very difficult to locate and then track.

Love the pose and the eye contact; light could be better but then such is life!

-- Vivek

[Nagesh Mula]

Kiran, i liked this picture very much. It gives me that low angle feeling, the stare and the effect all works great for me. Congrats!!

[Danny Laredo]

Great sighting Kiran, you sure did get the most out of it.
Super pose and eye contact.

[Kiran Khanzode]

Thanks, all. Glad the leopard photogs/safari goers understand the frustration I have when shooting leopards :-).

Peter, wow 1 year is a long time to chase leopards......you do need that camera trap now to catch him in your backyard :-), good luck !!!

[Morkel Erasmus]

I would be very happy with this shot K - you captured their elusive nature well. nice-looking youngster, here's hoping the leopard population in India is on the up.

if you want the best opportunity to capture leopards on camera you'll have to visit one of the Sabi-Sands private reserves here in South Africa - they take you face to face with them. if you can afford it. I can't. :)

[Ajit Huilgol]

Leopards are indeed very elusive and you have a wonderful capture here, Kiran. Nagarahole NP in Karnataka is emerging as a great place to see and photograph this species, especially on the Kabini side.

[Ken Watkins]

A very rare capture indeed, especially in India.

Usually they look away from you as they cross the road.