Leopard walking in tree in the Serengeti savanna

by RicardMN Photography

Title

Leopard walking in tree in the Serengeti savanna

Artist

RicardMN Photography

Medium

Photograph

Description

African leopard walking in tree in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

LOCATION
This photo was taken in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

TIME
It was 16:45, it was hot and I was moving, since dawn, in an all-terrain with open roof, locating animals and scenes to photograph. At that moment we saw that in the branches of a savannah tree, near a small stream, there was a beautiful leopard, which rested peacefully in those hot hours. This was taken on December 5, 2017. At one point, the leopard stood on the branch, stretched, and began to move slowly. That's where I took the opportunity to make several beautiful photographs, including this one.

LIGHTING
At that time there was a lot of light behind the leopard and behind the animal the background was the sky, so the backlight was important. Therefore, I had to measure the light for a correct exposure of the leopard and as a consequence the background appears totally white.

EQUIPMENT
It was shot on a Nikon D750, with an 200-500mm f/5.6 lens. Exposure: 1/320 sec. in f5,6. Focal length: 500mm. ISO: 650. No flash. No tripod. No bean bag.

INSPIRATION
I was looking for images of animals in a special attitude, to tell a story. No static animals dozing or passively. I also sought interaction between animals or scenes in which the relationship between animals and landscape or elements of the landscape was seen. In this scene, the tree was important, as well as the soft-moving position of the leopard stretching as it rose.

EDITING
I did not do an important process. Simply, from the RAW file, I slightly adjusted the white balance and somewhat basic adjustments.

IN MY CAMRA BAG
The equipment that I wear depends on the type of photography I'm going to do. In this case it was a safari and the team was as follows: two camera bodies, one with telephoto 200-500 and another with a 24-70 zoom, to have instantly available one and the other without having to constantly change targets. It had a tripod and monopod, but there is practically no possibility of using them, because the photographs are taken from a 4x4 vehicle that continuously moves and jumps and where it is necessary to be constantly changing position with the camera supported by a pulse or resting on the body of the vehicle it is stopped. In addition, in the backpack there are spare batteries, some filter, and memory cards, an air pear to clean the dust of lenses and cameras.

FEEDBACK
In Serengueti and other similar savanna zones the weather is usually dry and you have to rely on the dust when choosing the elements of the photographic equipment, which should be watertight. A storm can also occur at any time and you have to be prepared for it. You also have to have a lot of patience, know how to wait for that leopard, that elephant, those zebras, that group of lions, do something, adopt a certain attitude, make some movement, show some kind of affective relationship, etc. Sometimes, you just have to wait and travel distances to get to find some animal or group of animals. Nor should we forget that, in addition to animals, landscapes offer us extraordinary images. As well as people in inhabited areas.

The African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) is the leopard nominate subspecies native to many countries in Africa. It is widely distributed in most of sub-Saharan Africa, but the historical range has been fragmented in the course of habitat conversion.

Leopards inhabited a wide range of habitats within Africa, from mountainous forests to grasslands and savannahs, excluding only extremely sandy desert. They are most at risk in areas of semi-desert, where scarce resources often result in conflict with nomadic farmers and their livestock.

The impact of trophy hunting on populations is unclear, but may have impacts at the demographic and population level, especially when females are shot. In Tanzania, only males are allowed to be hunted, but females comprised 28.6% of 77 trophies shot between 1995 and 1998.

Compared to other members of Felidae, the leopard has relatively short legs and a long body with a large skull. It is similar in appearance to the jaguar, but has a smaller, lighter physique. Its fur is marked with rosettes similar to those of the jaguar, but the leopard's rosettes are smaller and more densely packed, and do not usually have central spots as the jaguar's do. Both leopards and jaguars that are melanistic are known as black panthers. The leopard is distinguished by its well-camouflaged fur, opportunistic hunting behaviour, broad diet, and strength (which it uses to move heavy carcasses into trees), as well as its ability to adapt to various habitats ranging from rainforest to steppe, including arid and montane areas, and its ability to run at speeds of up to 58 kilometres per hour (36 mph).

The Serengeti National Park is a Tanzanian national park in the Serengeti ecosystem in the Mara and Simiyu regions.

The park covers 14,750 square kilometres (5,700 sq mi) of grassland plains, savanna, riverine forest, and woodlands. The park lies in northwestern Tanzania, bordered to the north by the Kenyan border, where it is continuous with the Maasai Mara National Reserve. To the southeast of the park is the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, to the southwest lies Maswa Game Reserve, to the west are the Ikorongo and Grumeti Game Reserves, and to the northeast and east lies the Loliondo Game Control Area. Together, these areas form the larger Serengeti ecosystem.

The park is worldwide known for its abundance of wildlife and high biodiversity.

The park was the location of filming for The Grassland Landscape Of Planet Serengeti along with Masai Mara. (Description from Wikipedia)

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December 20th, 2017

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