Leopaparazzi

Of the African big cats, the leopard (Panthera pardus) is not only the

most beautiful, but also the most elusive and difficult to photograph.

This is mainly because the leopard is primarily a nocturnal creature,

and many of its operations are done by night. Also, the leopard is

known for its ability in climbing, and you often see it resting on

tree branches during the day and descending from trees headfirst.

During the dry season, there are not so many leaves in the trees,

making it easier to spot them. When I was in South Africa to shoot

leopards however, the dry season was just about to start and the trees

were still full of leaves. From a photographic perspective I prefer

the green trees, but obviously it makes it even harder to find one,

let alone photograph one.

When I found this leopard high up in a tree, at first I thought there

was no shot to be taken, but after about ten minutes I was able to

find a spot from where I could just see the head and part of the body.

Light levels were very low, so I had to shoot wide open and up my ISO

to 640 to get an acceptable shutter speed. Because of the backlighting

and the big distance, I used a million candlepower spotlight to use as

fill light. I like how the oof vegetation in the foreground acts like

a natural frame and shifts all attention to the upper half.

Your comments are appreciated as always.

[D2Xs, AF-S 600/4.0, 1/45 @ f/4.0, ISO 640, tripod]

It's usually a good idea to keep some space in front of your subject to look into, and to have some space in your shot in general to let it 'breathe'. But there's another good reason to include some space in your images: advertising and magazines. Having been an art director myself for many years, I know that they are always looking for images with room for type. Although this is not a typical example of a 'type-friendly' shot, I thought I'd be interesting to show you how Digital SLR User Magazine from the UK recently used this image to promote an interview with me a few months ago.

Stunning Capture of an amazing animal!!! Superb lighting!