Morning drink

In wildlife photography there are basically two strategies you canuse; try to find the animal and photograph it when and where you findit, or wait for the animal at a specific location and photograph itwhen it shows up. For this image I used a combination of both.

When I'm photographing in Africa, I usually start long before sunrise- that gives me some time to search for a specific species, and when Ifind one that interests me, I simply try to stick around, waiting forthe light. The downside to this strategy is that you have little or nocontrol over what the scene will look like (unless you've trained theanimal to listen to your directions) and you just have to work withthe conditions presented to you. Most safari companies start aroundsunrise, which means that you're driving around searching for wildlifewhen the light is at its very best, and it may already be quite harshby the time you find what you were looking for.

If you know the area, and the animal behavior of the species in thatarea, you can also limit your search to specific spots where you knowthat your subject of choice appears regularly. The advantage of thisstrategy is that you have much more control over the shootingconditions - you'll be prepared. You can get a good view point with anice background for instance. The downside obviously is that nothingmight show up, and you could waste time and good light.

This shot was taken during a leopard workshop in South Africa. Westarted early to search for leopards and found one pretty soon. It wasstill quite dark, so we just sat back and enjoyed watching it for awhile. After a few minutes, the leopard got up and started walking.While we followed it, I tried to predict where it might be going sothat we could go there and get headshots instead of bumshots. :smile:I knew there was a small pool in the area that was on my list of goodlocations, and I figured that might be where the leopard was heading.Many animals start the day with something to drink, so it made senseto give it a try. So we left the leopard and drove to the pool toposition ourselves and wait. There's always the risk that you take thewrong decision and miss something spectacular, but that's also part ofthe excitement in my opinion: you never know what you're gonna get. Inthis case I made the right choice - the leopard showed up rightopposite our vehicle and we were able to take some great shots. If Ihadn't known the area and had not visualized this shot before, I wouldnot have been able to take this shot.

D2Xs, AF-S VR 200-400/4.0, 1/250 @ f/4.0, ISO 800, beanbag

Awesome shot. Congrats.

Hele mooie plaat met een goed verhaal. Bedankt voor het delen.

Nice shot ^^^ Best regards

 

***Ali***

Superb image! I enjoyed reading your interesting write-up. A few weeks back I was in Ranthambore National Park in India. We saw a tiger, mostly shoulder and head, from the back. We were there for hours but it didn't budge. Would just swivel or raise its head a little and then back to its original position. No visitors are allowed in the park around the noon hours. We went back in the afternoon soon as the park reopened. The tiger was still there, same slouch. Again we waited a long time but I guess it was not our lucky day...

Great capture. The feeling this picture evokes is that of sympathy for the poor third-world-like animal. If you were going for that feeling congratulations, if you were going for more of a naturalistic wildlife then the scene is a bit unfitting. It gives off the idea that he is ready to fight at anytime. Pretty amazing capture again!

The feeling this picture evokes is that of sympathy for the poor third-world-like animal. If you were going for that feeling congratulations, if you were going for more of a naturalistic wildlife then the scene is a bit unfitting. It gives off the idea that he is ready to fight at anytime

Jaziel - I don't have a clue what you mean by 'sympathy for the poor third-world-like animal'. It's simply a photograph of one of the prettiest of the big cats having a drink, I don't get your interpretation. This is as natural as you can get.

The left ear (right for the viewer) is pointed backwards to be able to hear what's happening behind him - they do this all the time and it's got nothing to do with being 'ready to fight'.

Thank you for your comments though. :-)

Amazing capture of this fantastic animal.. The colors and light is super and the details are wonderfull... I think you have got a amazing shoot here.. Great work..

 

All the best, Jill

Very nice capture!

Marsel.... I, too, enjoyed the lead-in story. It is always a challenge to find and photograph a creature, leopard or otherwise, that makes a life out of being out of sight. Not only were you able to nail the leopard, but to capture the ripples of water really adds to the image. That said, my real comment is only one word:

 

Perfect!

 

 

Marsel just to clarify. I think everyone can agree that your capture looks great and was quite an amazing hunt. I am just a beginner in the world of photography and am really interested in growing. As a person that appreciates art what I meant by "third-world-like" was that the water looks dirty, his feet are muddy, there is lots of mud in the area and that the scene itself is not green and lush. It is just my opinion as a commoner int this world photography. I checked out just a bit of your work and I must say your portfolio looks great - including this one. I only comment so that you can have all of the different opinions and not just "yes-men". Again great job!

Marsel, your theory & practice work both for big wild cats as well as for insects, or any living creature (including Homo sapiens) in between. You've to be able to anticipate what the critters are going to do before you can position yourself as a photographer waiting for a good photo opportunity to occur. Often, about 90% of those excercises do not deliver the wanted results. It keeps us busy, doesn't it!? Cheers, Sam.

Beautiful. 7/6a Take care

100% Naturaleza. Extraordinaria!!!!!!

I only comment so that you can have all of the different opinions and not just "yes-men".

I appreciate that - thank you for your comments!

Simply Amazing!

Hi Marsel.Another GREAT photo.I love it,framing, details,colors, every thing and thanks for your critique.I do agree with you about both background and colored frame,but you know,just to do sth new.most of my frames are black or white.Anyhow thanks for sharing your great photo.

Regards,Omid.