Leopard(Female)/Bandipur#1

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Sighted this female leopard at Bandipur on Sunday (22nd May'11) morning at about 8:15am. We were driving on the minister gutti road and suddenly a langur gave alarm call. We then spotted this leopard resting on a tree, later the alarm calls went crazy by 5-6 langurs, and also I saw the langurs jumping from one branch to the other. Not happy by the distrubance of langur the leopard was starring at them, this is when I clicked this image. The sighting lasted for about 10-15 minutes. Image is full frame


Camera Model Canon EOS 7D, 500mm
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/800
Av( Aperture Value ) 7.1
ISO 640
EC - 0.3
Focal length 500mm
Full frame
Bean Bag Support

[Mrudul Godbole]

Wow lovely eye contact. I liked the light on the eye. Its good you got the face in the clear. The habitat included looks nice. I liked the composition. Very nicely captured. Thanks for sharing.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Lovely sighting. Its great that the head is clearly seen. Wish the branch behind the head was not there. I am not sure whether changing position could have avoided that. How long was the sighting. In case you are slowly repositioning your vehicle, better to get a few shots and then try.

The light nicely falls on the face and the composition is nearly there. May be slightly more space at the left would have been better. That would have ensured the hint of two small dry branches on the right frame edge. However, one should remember that it is not very easy to notice those, especially in the excitement of photographing a leopard. Overall, well done. Thanks for sharing. Look forward to more.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Thanks Sabyasachi and Mrudul, the sighting lasted for good 10-15 mins. We could have tried and changed our position by moving the jeep for a better angle. However the leopard was already disturbed with too many alarm calls and if we had moved there were chances that she would have got down from the tree much earlier.

I guess now I have photographed quite a few tigers and leopards, may be going forward I can experiment more with risk of missing few shots

[Bhargava Srivari]

Good that light is falling on the face region. The composition looks nice...didn't know you would be in bandipur; had I known, I would have planned my visit matching yours Hope you continue to sight the cats and make more experiments in regards to compositions...tfs

Bhargava

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Thanks Bhargava, my trip was made last minute not mainly for safaris. My German Shepard dog (Angel) littered 5 puppies at farm so I had to rush with some tonics and medicines.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Thanks Bhargava, my trip was made last minute not mainly for safaris. My German Shepard dog (Angel) littered 5 puppies at farm so I had to rush with some tonics and medicines.

Photogropher, Master Chef, Dog breeder.....What all you will put in your profile.

[Bhargava Srivari]

Oh..so you have more friends to play with! Anyway, its great that a trip not meant for wildlife viewing yeilded such good sightings..

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Excellent. I like the way the face is partly lit up and the intense looks. As mentioned this wud been a killer without the branch in front. nevertheless a fine image.

Nice to know about your puppy arrivals.Incidentally our Rot (Genghiz) passed away last week .He was a fine watch dog and an excellent tracker.
TFS
Roopak

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Thanks guys for comments

Roopak sorry to hear lose of your dog

Sabyasachi - In my profile Photographer has come in mainly because you, Mrudul, Bibhav and few other members at Indiawilds who appreciated & kept motivating me. I am not sure if I am a master chef, but definitely love cooking whenever I get time. Not a dog breeder for sure