Lions, Leopards & Other Cats

28 Jan 2020

On every trip, especially when you are in Africa for the first time, the desire to see predators is very strong. Predators are less often seen than other wild animals, because they usually move for only three reasons: partner search, defence and hunting. The rest of the day they sleep in the shade. 

To obtain really good pictures, you need a lot of time and patience. With lions you should focus on one animal, keep the camera ready in standby and wait until the lion is more active and is in front of a beautiful background after sleeping. In a national park there are often ruthless and too many cars and coaches that can block the most beautiful view of the big cats. The best is to wait at a water hole and not to get too close to lions when they move around, in order to prevent the background and settings having to be changed constantly.  

The camera should be well adjusted for moving animals, to make them stand out better from the blurred background and to have more control over the focus area. Also, a short exposure time is optimal for taking pictures of playing young animals or a fast hunt. Leopards are rather shy animals, and cheetahs are easier to see again, but difficult to photograph because they are so fast. 

The best, but most controversial places are private areas where lions and other wild cats have lost their natural shyness and have become accustomed to being photographed constantly. You can get much closer to these animals, observe them for a long time and take good pictures. 

Detailed information about the African cats of prey and the best tips for photographing the animals can be found on Namibia Outdoor. 

Pentax K-1 Mark II 450mm f5.6 1/320s ISO800 A moment which is rather rare in nature: a leopard approaches a vehicle with photographers. This is common in a private game reserve because the big cat is used to people. One of the most difficult tasks for a camera is to take a clear picture of an object (the leopard) moving towards it. Usually the tracking autofocus is unable to cope with that and the photographer is too slow to set it at the right moment. I use continuous mode and calmly focus on a spot in front of the animal, ideally slightly dimmed to get more depth of field. I wait until the animal comes close and then press the shutter release button. This way the animal walks through my Pentax K-1 Mark II 450mm f5.6 1/1000s ISO3200 LW-0.3 A rather typical image – a leopard on a tree. But very rarely seen in the wild and even more seldom captured by camera. If you don't have the time to lie in wait for weeks like a professional wildlife photographer, try a private conservation area where big cats are fed or wear a transmitter so that they can be found more quickly. There they are used to tourists and are usually not disturbed. Pentax K-1 Mark II 200mm f3.2 1/3200s ISO3200 LW-0.3 I don't want to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of feeding animals so that we can see them at close range and possibly even touch them. It is an undisputed fact, however, that the possibility of extended observation and enough time to try different settings are not available out in the wild. I underexposed this image and darkened it further during post-processing. Later I brought the cheetah back from the darkness by overexposing it. Pentax K-1 Mark II 200mm f3.2 1200s ISO3200 LW-0.3 Getting this close is usually not possible in the wild. Many farms offer excursions into a fenced area, where animals are fed so that you can see them at a closer range than you would at a zoo. I chose an open aperture and a large focal length. This made only the eyes sharp. The eyes are often the first feature a viewer looks at, followed by the mouth and ears. Often we only then take in the whole face. Pentax K-1 Mark II 200mm f3.2 1200s ISO3200 LW-0.3 Getting this close is usually not possible in the wild. Many farms offer excursions into a fenced area, where animals are fed so that you can see them at a closer range than you would at a zoo. I chose an open aperture and a large focal length. This made only the eyes sharp. The eyes are often the first feature a viewer looks at, followed by the mouth and ears. Often we only then take in the whole face. Pentax K-1 Mark II 450mm f6.3 1/1600s ISO800 For a whole afternoon we watched a pride of lions resting in the shade of bushes and dunes. Shortly before sunset they all woke up and looked towards the crest of a dune. A male lion slowly crossed it, followed by a second one. One after the other they sniffed at the markings of a female and by flehming absorbed all the smells. A unique moment for me. Repeatedly I adjusted the exposure to the changing light conditions of the afternoon. I always aimed at a short exposure time because I never knew what would happen next. Later, on the PC, I brightened the dark shadows.

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