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Shadow-and-Flame-86 — Leopard in the Snow
Published: 2013-01-20 18:39:27 +0000 UTC; Views: 1646; Favourites: 95; Downloads: 0
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Description
Zane, the gorgeous female amur leopard at Edinburgh Zoo, relaxing in the snow.I've never shot zoo animals in the snow before and was very excited to try! Unfortunatly there was hardly any light today, it was a very dark, cloudy sky with more snow and hail falling, so was reduced to shooting at a very low shutter speed (ugh 160 on a 200mm lens? bad times!) to try and get some light into the shots. Which then meant most of them were blurry >.< So this shot and I think most of the other ones I upload from today will be open to critique, if anyone has any tips and tricks for shooting in the snow and in dark conditions I would love to hear them! Because this pose and subject has the makings of a great shot, but I don't think I've done it justice... **sigh** if only it had been a bit sunnier! Let me know what you all think
Copyright © KJR wildlife photography. All rights reserved to Kelly RobinsonYou may NOT use, replicate, manipulate, or modify any image without my written consent
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Comments: 24
It is a shame that these animals are almost "extinct in the wild". I think this is a wonderful composition and a great portrait of a magnificent animal. Her expression and her eyes say it all, and I don't care that she is not adhering to the rule of thirds.
Regarding the low light situation, the only thing that comes to my mind is using shutter priority and setting it to a value that you are comfortable with and then let the camera adjust the ISO setting accordingly. Of course, that might introduce some unwanted noise, but with regards to this shot, you did everything right.
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Thanks very much for this! I did not think of switching back to shutter priority mode (I normally use manual), it would be a good idea to try to see what the camera made of the light conditions and to see how the shots came out. If I get a chance to photograph in the snow again I will certainly try this!
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You're very welcome. I'm anxious to see the results...
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thanks very much
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I think the shot is fantastic despite the conditions. Did you use a tripod? That would have reduced the blur issues. I would have been flipping thru shutter speeds myself though, wb probably too, lol. Everything for "that shot".
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thanks very much! No I didn't use a tripod, I find them very restrictive at zoos where the animals are moving around so much. Plus with all the people there it would have been impossible to set one up and not get knocked even when she was lying down!
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despite the lack of light I think this is a beautiful portrait. such a shame they have declined 
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thanks, yeah the amur leopards really do seem screwed... is such a shame
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Gorgeous work!
How appropriate you get a shot of an Amur leopard in the snow.
(By the way, you wouldn't happen to know the stats on this species population in the wild, would you? I know they're virtually extinct in the wild.)
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I think the number most people quote is 35, although that may be out of date now... they are pretty screwed unfortunatly >.<
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Yeah, it really is sad to say it's wild population probably won't survive past the end of this century, if that.
Looks like another "Extinct in the wild" species.
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thanks very much!
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