Dancing Leopards

[Grant Atkinson]

Canon 1DmkIII, 70-200mmf2.8is, handheld from vehicle. S/speed 1/1600s at F/6.3, +0.33 Exp comp, iso 640. Ai Servo, Metering Evaluative. Subject dist. 14.5m Focal length 200mm. Cropped from 10 to 6mp. Processed in ACR6 and CS5. Location Savuti, Botswana, 2 Nov 2010, 09h00.
Mother leopard and female cub at play on a morning where the sun was just burning its way through some clouds.
All C and C welcome
Cheers
Grant

www.grantatkinson.com (http://www.grantatkinson.com)

[Steve Kaluski]

19 views and no comments, can believe that Grant.

Nice bit of interaction, hard to think this is playing!!! Seems like you & I have been lucky there, keep some back for me next time. :D

Is this FF Grant, as I am 50/50 on a landscape/portrait format on this one, however if we run with landscape any more room on the lhs and above? The raised paws, standing on the back legs is a great capture & pose, especially with the curve of the tail wrapping those back feet.

All in all congrats on this one. :cheers:

BTW went over to the little owl site at 8 this morning, clear blue skies, dusting of more snow, -12.5 degrees!!!!

cheers
Steve

[DanWalters]

Great interaction and captured at just the right moment. Bet this was a lot of fun to photograph!

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Steve and Dan, thanks for the comments. It was cropped from 10 to 6mp, and if I do a 3:2 ratio vertical crop on the original, it is too tight on the two cats. Hence I went with this horizontal crop....I should have shot it vertical with the 300f2.8, but they move pretty fast and I had already chopped off body parts (in camera :)) with the fixed lens earlier...for a landscape I do have more room on the LHS and above. I will do a repost a bit later...running on minimal BPN time at the moment :) . Dan it was great fun to photograph, most of the time they were in the bushes, but I spent an hour with them to get this one...
I am looking forward to seeing the results from your owl shots Steve
Cheers for now
grant..

[Grant Atkinson]

Here is the repost, bit more space on lhs and above
cheers
grant

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Grant, prefer this to the OP as there is a bit more room to breathe. Like Harshad, you are wetting out appetite for these locations Grant, see you in 2011. LOL :cheers: Thanks for the background info, very helpful.


kind regards
Steve

PS Would suggest moving your tag line to anless intrusive position with the frame. :)

[Austin Thomas]

The extra space improves this one Grant.

You are just showing off having two Leopards in the frame !

Cheers

Austin

[Danny J Brown]

Hi Grant,

Wonderful action image and I like the repost even better. The stance of the little guy is so cute and mama has her ears back a bit......she better not get too rough. Little guy's tail is sticking straight out; pretty funny. Nicely exposed and some habitat all around. I had alot of fun looking at this one so thanks, for sure.

DB

[Morkel Erasmus]

awesome moment Grant - lovely soft light due to the conditions...I like the repost better for Steve's mentioned reasons...

[Deborah Harrison]

Grant strikes again!!!
I love your repost - not only are you living in one of the world's greatest wildlife areas but also you are succeeding in capturing it! Can't wait to get back to my favourite part of the world.

[Angad Achappa]

19 views and no comments, can believe that Grant.
Steve

Maybe because the image is so beautiful, that people have no words!! :D Interaction of animals with their young ones is always a pleasure to see.

[Harshad Barve]

Leopard-man , This is called as rubbing

Mighty fine moment very well captured and repost rocks
TFS

[Hilary Hann]

This is a fine image Grant. I like the interaction between the leopards, it really gives so much feeling to the photograph. You did amazingly well to avoid too much branch interference, and the few showing give some extra depth. Love the tonal range produced here, evocative.

[Grant Atkinson]

thanks for all the comments, everyone. It was exciting to photograph as they kept playing whilst hidden in the bushes, then eventually it happened in the open..by that time I was quite keyed up and anxious to get some pics. Danny, the mother leopard would continuously tolerate the cub pulling her tail, jumping on her, and so on without responding most of the time, but every now and again she would join in, and even though the cub was very fast, and very agile, the ease with which the mom would dodge, weave and when she wanted, playfully swot the cub in mid-air just reminded me how quick these cats responses and reflexes are. It was great to photograph adn glad to be able to share it here..
cheers for now
grant

[Steve Canuel]

So, they can do something besides lay around in trees all day :p. Great capture. I like the repost but both have excellent clarity, color, and detail.

[John Ippolito]

Great behavior captured, and the repost feels better. Very nice.

[Marc Mol]

Love the playful interaction between mother and cub here Grant, nicely done.
TFS

[Todd Frost]

Great action captured here Grant. Another vote for the repost. Well done.
TFS
Todd

[Rachel Hollander]

Grant - great story and action. I like the repost more.

TFS,
Rachel

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Grant,
Lovely. When I am in Africa, I am sure, I will hunt you down. :D I hope I get some time. :(

Cheers,
Sabyasachi