Male Leopard/Kabini

[Praveen Siddannavar]

This was the first leopard sighting during my recent visit to Kabini, the light was low and we were on the edge of finishing our safari ride. As we were heading towards S bend we heard alarm calls of spotted deer and another too had heard and were waiting. The calls went on for a while and we could sense the moment of leopard as this guy couldn't avoid walking on the fallen dry teak leaves. The excitement began but no sight of the this elusive cat, the alarm calls went louder. Finally we had a glimpse of this guy in the bushes, he was in a hunting mode. The deers ran helter-skelter, all this action was happening within the bushes, we could only see but not take photographs.
Finally the leopard gave up & walked out sniffing and took a first look at us hiding behind the tree, I loved this moment, not a great image though.

Increased ISO considering the action and also the light was fading fast.


Camera - Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, 500mm

Av 4
Tv 1/320
ISO 1600
Focal length 500mm
Cropped
Jeep's roof top rod support
Date and Time : 26th Jan'12 @ 5:53pm

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Very nice image Praveen. The single eyed look gives a warning like feel to the image. The effect captured here would not have been possible had you included the full body of the leopard. Thanks for the image.

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Nice imace.Superb composition ,reflective of the secretive character of the most powerful (pound by pound )predator of the Indian Jungles.It also speaks a lot about your imagination.Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

P.S:Praveen Bhai,I know you will not mind, 'scar' could have been avoided in the caption for this most graceful animal in our forests.

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Saktipada ji i am ok with your suggestion on title, requesting Mrudul to change to title to Male Leopard/Kabini, she has the controls to amend it.
Thanks,

[Suraj Sreedhar]

Nice image.Looks like playing hide & seek with you.....
TFS

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Good one praveen, your write up builds the setting nicely and image perfectly compliments it, if this a crop wondering how a wider compo with more of the leopard and surrondings will look ??? loved the eye

TFS
Roopak

[Anand Madabhushi]

I like the drama in the scene. How come the catch lite ?

[Mrudul Godbole]

The composition is nice. You can crop just a bit from the left to remove the slight hint of the background visible. Slight more space at the bottom would be good. Nicely captured. Thanks for sharing.

[Bhargava Srivari]

Unique composition. I would have liked this even more with slightly more space at the bottom. Would a slight boost in contrast make this better, I wonder.

Naturalists and people who visit kabini often, lovingly call him scarface (quite clearly because of the scars on his face), and these scars bear testimony to the fighter he has been! :)

tfs

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I like the looks. I agree that the leopard has got lovely eyes and is very beautiful. Some more space at the bottom may have been even better.

[V S Sankar]

Great looks from the animal.The guy also looks very clean and tidy!



Regards