The elusive stare: Leopard

[Bhargava Srivari]

Shot in bandipur last week.

People say sighting a leopard is difficult because of it's elusive nature. In that case, recieveing a cold stare from such an animal is even more difficult. That is just hat happened to us last week in bandipur. We were the first ones to sight this bold male leopard at 4:25 pm. Soon enough, other vehicles joined us and the leoard decided to move away from the crowd.

When five other jeeps were waiting at strategic locations waiting for the leopard to cross the track, we went back to the same spot he was first sighted, only to find him again!!

canon 60D, canon 100-400 L IS USM
f6.3, 1/125sec, ISO 800, EV +0.3, 180mm, cropped very slightly to remove the hint of a branch at the right of the frame, eval meteering.

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Nice Image.Composition, Natural Habitat,Colour, Eye Contact,Slow Moving Pose(Right hind leg in air) well documented.It is not a Cold Stare,It is judging whether You are on His Side or You have other Motive. At the beginning of Tourist Season(where Park is closed during Rains), Leopards are commonly seen. Thanks for sharing. SaktiWild

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Bhargava,
It is always a pleasure to watch a leopard. I feel blessed. I love their eyes.

I like the pose and the eye contact. Unfortunately, the image is not sharp. Perhaps it is due to a combination of low shutter speed, subject movement and any movement in your jeep. Were you using any in camera noise reduction? Was your jeep moving when you clicked? For how long did this sighting last?

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Bhargava Srivari]

Sabyasachi,

I was suspecting all the while that something was wrong with this image. Thanks for pointing out the sharpness issue. The jeep was being moved in reverse when I shot some images with good eye contact, which is unfortunate. Again, unfortunately, drivers in some parks have no knowledge about how important it is to keep the jeep still and allow the animal to behave naturally. Also, I have a feeling that drivers of these parks must be taught a few basics on positioning vehilces in such a way that photography is made possible. Though very crowded, places like tadoba, ranthambore and bandhavgarh are better in this regard.

When I was shooting this set of images, I was literally screaming at the driver to stop the vehicle, but my pleading was not answered :( I don't intend to give this as an excuse for a bad image, but only wish to convey the reality.

Regards

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice you sighted a leopard. I liked the stare. As you have mentioned if the jeep was moving then with the low shutter speed it would be difficult to get a sharp image. It seems the Leopard was also disturbed and it was moving away. It your jeep was the first to sight it, why he reversing it? Thanks for sharing.

[Bhargava Srivari]

Mrudul,

Precisely why I was a little disappointed. There were a couple of very hyped photographers in another jeep and our driver was trying to block the leopard's way until they came to the spot, in the process, affecting my images :(

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Mrudul,

Precisely why I was a little disappointed. There were a couple of very hyped photographers in another jeep and our driver was trying to block the leopard's way until they came to the spot, in the process, affecting my images :(

That is unpardonable. If I were you, I would have already lodged a formal complaint.

Today the most unethical breed are the wildlife photographers. To get some praise in photosharing sites, these photographers go to any lengths. Sad state of affairs.

Sabyasachi

[Roopak Gangadharan]

You got it close.Lovely looking animal and nice eye contact.

Agree that u should have lodged a compliant, whether it gets a result or not frankly doesnt matter.To borrow from a classic movie "atleast I tried " will make a lot of difference in this indifferent world and am quite sure it wud have crossed ur mind as well.

TFS
Roopak

[Ranjit Rao]

Today the most unethical breed are the wildlife photographers. To get some praise in photosharing sites, these photographers go to any lengths. Sad state of affairs.

How true. Feels sad that all the effort is to get a few 'likes' on FB and the 'wows' from the ignorant office folks. I find it funny when people shoot the poor beggar or a homeless old man and talk tons about what they can read through their ' classic expressions'. What a disgusting waste of good equipment.