Leopard (Male)

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Shot this huge male Leopard on 31st Dec'09 morning on the way to Gopalaswamy Betta near Bandipur.

Camera Model Canon EOS 40D
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/250
Av( Aperture Value ) 5.6
ISO Speed 400
Lens EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Focal Length 400.0 mm

Me and my friends decided to visit the temple and trek the hills, while driving up the hill we suddenly sighted the Leopard out in the open on hilly slope, However upon seeing us it hid in the bushes, my camera was packed so by the time I had unpacked and connected the Leopard was in the bushes and was hardly visible, within minutes it popped out to check if we were still present and I was lucky to take few shots face to face. I could not get a good eye contact as the sun was just rising and the glare on the Leopard so probably it was not able to open its eyes. It was an exciting moment though, I felt I was on top of the world having sighted a Leopard not in the Safari for a change. Later we even sighted a herd of 14 elephants, few gaurs, sambars and spotted deers. Will share other images soon...

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Praveen,
This is simply fantastic. Sighting a leopard in that area is fantastic. The morning light is nice. It seems you have cropped from the bottom? How much was the crop, so that we can know the distance. From the size of the head, this seems to be big fellow. Look forward to other compositions. Also, do you have a wider composition to show the overall habitat?

I am sure this will remain in memory for a long long time. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Bibhav Behera]

Lovely experience I'm sure. The size looks impressive. That is a rare experience... I'm sure it will linger for a long time to come. Around the Bonfire stories maybe?

[Mrudul Godbole]

This sounds similar to my first leopard sighting :). I too got same peeping images from behind the bush. Liked the direct stare and the details are nice. Is this your first leopard photograph? Look forward to more from Bandipur.

[Chitrita Chatterjee]

wow..... beautiful picture.....

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Thanks Guys for the comments...

Sabysachi - the crop from the bottom is hardly 10-15%, not sure of distance but it may be about 75 mts. I will try and post few more images so that we understand the correct distance.

Mrudul - this was not the first leopard with photo, earlier i shot twice in Kabini but images are not that great, even in Bandipur I sighted many a times but did not have DSLR, i have once clicked with my digital camera of the leopard on tree, our jeep was just below it distance ~ 30ft