Leopard yawning, Kabini

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10-05-2009, 11:09 AM
AB Apana

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Leopard yawning, Kabini

Spots seem under-represented on IndiaWilds, so here goes. (Apologies to those who have already seen this image).

We found this chap last May. He had just woken up and seemed to be deciding what to do. After an age, by which time all the other vehicles had also congregated around him, he yawned and melted down the tree trunk and was gone.

Although I process my images immediately, I missed this one, and only found it on my return to Bangalore when I was going over the RAW files again. This is also why I never bin my RAW files. All are retained on external drives.

40D with 500f4 IS, ISO 640. This is a smallish crop (50- 60%). I chose not to do any cloning.

Thanks for looking. Comments and critique welcome.
10-05-2009, 11:14 AM
Kiran Ghadge

What a beauty... Awesome image.. Love the moment. cloning does not matter for these kind of images, I love this as is.. gives nice wilderness feel
10-05-2009, 11:48 AM
Sabyasachi Patra

Apana,
This is a lovely moment. Sharp image. Love to see the whiskers sharp and fanned in all directions like the rays of the Sun. I too don't clone my images. It helps that the tongue is clear.

What was the aperture? I would love to see the uncropped image as well. I agree with your regarding the RAW files. I never delete my RAW images. The RAW processing softwares are getting better and better. Also, our processing skills improve over a period of time. In future, we are likely to do a better job in processing. Why to throw away the RAW files which are the digtal equivalent of negatives?

Please share images of this illusive cat. I don't have much leopard luck. Though in Feb, I saw leopards in two out of the three Safaris in Kabini.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi
10-05-2009, 02:09 PM
Harshad Barve

Beautifull image & what a moment.

You have done great job on this

Harshad
10-05-2009, 04:12 PM
Div Puri

Awesome shot Apana. Love the whiskers.
10-05-2009, 10:35 PM
Udai Bisht

My eyes were transfixed on the whiskers. Superb sharpness and clarity, Apana.
11-05-2009, 11:18 AM
Murugan Anantharaman

Lovely

Never realised that even a Yawn can be so beautiful.....
11-05-2009, 01:57 PM
Dipankar Mazumdar

Ammmaazzzzzzzzing Apana. If there is anything called a perfect image, this is it....the great BOKEH makes the Cat jump out..!!!! and man what whiskers..!!!