This must be the most frustrating leopard sighting I've had. We were trying to locate this male leopard (called the Tekwaan male) in the Sabi Sands one morning, but he had disappeared into a natural drainage system. We were right on top of him but couldn't see him. We then left for our morning coffee, and they picked him up again as he came out of the drainage system, but then he was lost again. Our ranger eventually found him at the bottom of a semi-dry riverbed (we had to descent into the riverbed with the 4x4s as only the Sabi Sands rangers know how to do). We then followed him as he went for a drink, but the bugger only gave me ONE good moment of eye contact, the rest was either behind grass or he was in golden light in front of us but looking away the whole time. :confused:
This is my one good shot with eye contact, right after he finished drinking. I probably screwed the framing up here. My wife was using the 70-200 and she got better full body shots but with the tail cut off etc (she is still in learning ;))
Techs:
Nikon D300s with Nikkor 200-400mm VR @ 200mm
f4.0 @ 1/2500 SS @ ISO-400
Exp +0.3
Almost full frame, cropped slightly from bottom and left
Morkel - Nevertheless, I think this is a beautiful composition and needs no explanation. Gorgeous, up-close view of an animal most of us will never see outside a zoo.
Looking forward to the day Mrs Morkel posts here! :)
It looks like he still has water drops on his mouth, I do like the way he is looking and congratulate you for being determined to get something. Would have been nice to see that front paw, but the overall pose is very pleasing. Tricky beasts.
Peter - I do talk and "give out" to myself quite a bit when photographing a fleeting memorable scene and I'm not getting it right...ask my wife...my favourite is when the memory card becomes full halfway through a good sighting :)