Caracal Running

[John Lowin]

This three image sequence was created in the Masi Mara Triangle. I was fortunate to have captured five frames in less than a second, here are three of them. The Caracal is a medium sized African cat related to the Serval and the African Golden Cat It is among the heaviest of all of the smaller cats, as well as the quickest, and nearly as fast as the Serval. It is most well-known for its skill at hunting birds; the Caracal is able to snatch a bird in flight, sometimes more than one at a time.

This is an experiment that I hope works. As I am unable to post a three image sequence here at a viewable size, I am providing a link to an off site posting location called Photobucket. Once you get to the Photobucket page you should see four images, the sequence plus the three component images. If you click on the sequence thumbnail it will enlarge. Then just place your cursor over the enlarged image (do not click), seven buttons will appear at the upper left corner. The furthest left button will read "Full Size." Click on that and then scroll through the image using the right and left arrow keys. (I am not responsible for any promotional advertising from Photobucket.)

Hope you will like my image. C and C welcome, I'm here to learn. Thanks for looking.

Each image - f/8 1/1250 ISO 200 @ 500mm
Canon 1D Mk II
Canon EF 500mm 1:4 L IS USM
Hand Heldhttp://s242.photobucket.com/albums/f...t-010/Caracal/

[John Lowin]

Nice stitch and pano. What is special is to get this animal at midday (judging the sunlight) as they are nocturnal. This also the only nit about this image: midday light is quite hard.
I have been on many many safaris and have not seen them once, so good work.

Peter, Thanks for your kind comments. You are correct in that the light was harsher than I would have preferred. But as you can imagine, Wisconsin to Kenya is not a brief commute. This was truly a rare opportunity, and I shot when I had the opportunity. Unfortunately the Caracal refused to wait for morning light. :-) Thanks again. - John

[Dave Mills]

Hi John...Nice sequence in the pano. To make the image a bit more convincing it would help to have the shadows especially since it was shot in the mid part of the day...

[John Lowin]

Hi John...Nice sequence in the pano. To make the image a bit more convincing it would help to have the shadows especially since it was shot in the mid part of the day...

Hi David, Thanks for looking. If you look carefully, all shadows are there exactly as shot. They are visible in both the pano or in the individual images. I certainly am not going to create phony shadows that don't exist. - John

[John Blumenkamp]

Cool sequence! The pano is really interesting to see here, with the various positions of the Caracal in various running positions. The light may be harsh, but still awesome to see. :)

[Robert Amoruso]

John,

Glad to see you got this one posted and nice work all around. Tough light but as mentioned you rarely see them so you do what you can with what you get and I think you did it real well here.

[Ken Watkins]

It seems that the Mara is the place to be for daylight Caracal sightings, I had my only one there.
A very nicely constructed image, I like the middle best.