It was pretty dark when we came upon this leopard that had made a meal of a cousin, an african wild cat. By the time we found it most of the prey had been consumed so the images are really very tame and should hopefully not offend anyone. I believe I had my 1D3/300 2.8 locked down on a tripod so was able to shoot at iso 1600 f3.2 1/15sec...thankfully, the leopard cooperated and stayed perfectly still. This shot and a few more, albeit with poorer composition, were far better than the flattened images I got less than 5 minutes later when flash was needed. I am hopeful that the newer generation cameras are able to produce images like these at 6400 without flash...then I don't have to worry as much about shutter speed and can have some f stop latitude. I believe this photo would blow up nicely to at least 16x20 and maybe 20x30 if I chose to do so without losing quality or adding too much noise.
I was hoping one of the new Canon or Nikon cameras could do this...and at a significantly higher mp..
Eric
Works even better if you drop the middle image out Eric. The first is very good and the last a beauty. I’m heading out into the gloom for some soft light fun.
The Wild Cat is a real treat Eric!! They might be grabs but a grab that works is an exhibition of skill. Grabs are so easy to muck up and muck up you didn't!
But oh my the Leopard is a stunner Super duper buddy!
Wow Eric! would love to see an African wildcat someday, maybe even get a picture or two - what a treat, nice captures!
Leopard is an awesome shot.... you did a fine job!
Kevin
Eric- I agree completely with what David said and with all the others who agree with what David said (the benefit of being first to comment ).
That leopard shot is a supah dupah poopah scoopah!
Charlie
David Leask wrote:
Wow, the wild cat is nice but the leopard is an absolute stunner Eric. Great work!
David
Thank you David. I was more than pleased to get that shot at that hour of the day. I don't always take a tripod with me on safari but with only two of us in the vehicle it worked perfectly and came in very handy.
Eric
morris wrote:
Works even better if you drop the middle image out Eric. The first is very good and the last a beauty. I’m heading out into the gloom for some soft light fun.
Morris
Thanks Morris...hope you got some things to bloom in the gloom. The second shot really was a documentary one to show the whole animal...for me it's not always about getting the perfect shot...behavioral ones even though less good photographically can none the less be interesting.
Eric
Super duper buddy!
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