Mara Leopard Photo

Photographer’s Note

Masai Mara Game Preserve, Kenya

Scene

Late in the afternoon we came upon this leopard resting in the shade of some shrubbery after it has feasted upon a kill from earlier in the day. The leopard is basically a nocturnal animal and is sometime difficult to find though we did see most of our leopards in the early morning after making a kill. It was a surprise for our guide to find this one animal visible at this time of day and so accommodating.

The Masai Mara is the northern extent of the great Serengeti Plain of eastern Africa. To me the Mara looked much like the grasslands of Kansas. Historically the Serengeti is the homeland of the Masai people, a cattle herding culture and relatives of the Samburu people in northern Kenya. The Mara grasslands are in the SW corner of Kenya about 300+ km’s from Nairobi and about 150 km’s south of the equator.

Background

As stated in my previous post my wife and I were on a photographer’s only safari, 17 people, and six vehicles. The Mara was the last of the three preserves that we visited on our 14 day safari. We spent 6 days at the Mara on the go from before sunrise to well after sunset. At the Mara the most abundant animals were the wildebeest, the Thompson Gazelle, and the three great cats (lion, cheetah, and leopard).

Additional Info:

1.4X Teleconverter
Beanbag stabilization

delic, MLINES, Floydian, Photo65Net, plimrn, feather, scobert, Wandering_Dan, ribeiroantonio trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

batalay (21086) 2008-10-17 18:45

Hello John,

What a majestic animal, and what a portrait you have created. The composition is exquisite, the exposure flawless — the colors and resolution appear with fidelity. Bravo!

Warm regards,

Bulent

delic (6735) 2008-10-17 20:05

Excellent, sharp portrait of the big cat, John. Beautifully framed, maybe could get all of its feet but I know how hard it must have been. Great one! Hakan

MLINES (10910) 2008-10-17 20:46

Hi John, An excellent coposition, well cropped with very true colours. The pose and expression on this big cat's face is truely superb. TFS. Murray.

brandstaetter (14246) 2008-10-17 21:15

Hi John,
so close, so sharp.. compliments for capturing this great animal that way
Cheers Christian

Floydian (30970) 2008-10-18 0:47

Hi John,
Oh, here you slap me in the face with a great rebound. I see you have that famous lens on, man this is a superb piece of glass. I seldom react on animals on TE because i think they must be placed on TN, but i want to make an exception for this one.
It's crisp, it's bright, it's sharp like hell...!!!
Look at the eyes, the textures, how wonderful.
A great rebound from your previous post...respect..!!!
Regards, Henk

Photo65Net (43096) 2008-10-18 1:42

Hello John,
This one is so sharp ! :o)
DOF, colors, contrasts... All elements seem perfect here, amazing one !
Have a nice day,
JB.

plimrn (19688) 2008-10-18 19:17

WOW!! WOW!!! WOW!! Stunning detail and color, great DOF!! He definitly has that satisfied after-a-good-meal look. Woud you reccommend a photyographer's only group? You didn't trip over eachg other?
HLJ, Pat

feather (49872) 2008-10-19 5:46

This is an amazing catch and (s)he is posing just for you. I love how you have eye-contact, and it is so sharp we could prick our fingers on the whiskers. F5.6 has worked just right. Excellent!
Kath

cdmonson (2757) 2008-10-22 9:49

Hi John:

Nice to see you back--it's been a while. Nice sharpness and color, but in particular I love the leopard's pose--looks like he's resting on his elbow watching the weird little people looking into clicking boxes go by. ;)

Clark

toto (18731) 2008-10-23 1:20

Bonjour,
belle photo de ce superbe léopard au repos et curieux, bonne netteté de ce portrait et ce regard est de toute beauté.
L' arrière plan fait bien ressortir ce portrait magnifique.

Amitiés Thomas

scobert (5333) 2008-11-07 10:21

Long time no see, John!

This is a great shot of this magnificent leopard! Your composition, the leopard's expression and the blistering sharpness is very impressive! Kudos for a superb (and underrated) wildlife image!

Stan

Wandering_Dan (3263) 2009-02-04 21:22

Hi, John -

An unbelievable shot. In all the time we were in Kenya, we only saw one leopard, and that was just the head when it popped up out of the grass briefly. Aside from the rarity of the shot, it's also a great closeup, showing the power and the majesty of the animal.

By the way, the Maasai Mara may be grassy like Kansas, but Kansas does not have those hills!

Best,
Dan

Hellas (5145) 2009-02-27 1:47

Fantastic shot, John!
The camera, the zoom lens and definitely the stabilization created this impressive portrait!
Very good focus with fine clarity and an excellent contrast between the animal and the background!
A great safari, I suppose!

Greetings from Greece,
Athanasios.

ribeiroantonio (21957) 2009-03-02 20:58

This is one of the most spectacular animal photos I have seen here on TE. It is so clear and so sharp that I can not believe you have done it on a zoom at 360mm. I certainly would not be able to such high quality shot because I shake a bit too much for long lenses shooting. Well done.
Antonio

smarcell (14437) 2009-05-27 0:10

I am hypnotized by this fantastic animal.
I suppose that seeing such wildlife so close must be a fantastic experience.
Regards Stefano

Waylim (10981) 2009-08-21 10:54

Hi John,
Leopard it harder to see than others I think. We saw a couple, but not in this nice of a setting a good light, the first we saw was in the tall glass field, I just took one shot and when another jeep came it left. This is great quality, so crisp and sharpe, up close and personal with great eyes contact. Such a beautiful and elegant cat. I love thedetails of its mouth and nose, the outline of them is just perfect. Thanks for bring back the memory for me as well. A trip of a life time.
Way