Leopard at Cotswold Wildlife Park

[uktrailmonster]

Been trying out my new Christmas present (300mm F4 L IS) at the wildlife park. Here's a few examples. For a first outing in fairly poor light I'm quite happy with the results :) Critical comments more than welcome. I'm always looking to improve.

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[munchy]

Fantastic! I love the first one. Enjoy your new toy ;-)

[Dimitri_V]

I love your lighting,simply st;) unning.

[stoneylonesome]

WOW! those are fantastic shots. I really love the first one

[KaplanMultimedia]

Terrific shots, especially the first one. Congrats on the new lens. Enjoy it! :D

[Balliolman]

I'm for the first also: well done!

[sparker1]

Top flight work, great shots.

[tommykjensen]

Wow beautiful.

Did You shoot through glass or fence?

This park where is that in UK? Is it easy to get to with public transportation?

[uktrailmonster]

Thanks everyone for all your kind comments. I was very lucky to get these at all. They were shot through a wire mesh fence about 6 feet away (the fence that is). The long focal length made the fence invisible. I got about 10 shots off as the setting sun caught the Leopard's face. 1 min later and I'd have missed the chance completely.

The Cotswold Wildlife Park is in Burford, just outside Oxford. Not sure about public transport as it's out in the countryside. We go there quite often as it's more open than your average zoo and there is a good variety of animals. Leopards, Lions, Zebras, Rhinos, Otters, Red Pandas, Penguins, Birds of Prey, Exotic Birds, Insects and all sorts. Here's a link to their website for more details.

http://www.cotswoldwildlifepark.co.uk/

[uktrailmonster]

Here's a couple more that came out well

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[tommykjensen]

In copenhagen zoo where I shot the cub in my avatar there is also a wire mesh that makes it nearly impossible to get shot a where You can't see the the wire despite the focal length. And I can get the lens as close to the fence as about 1 meter but the holes in the fence are so small that they result in a weird patern in the bokeh.

[Gary Fairhead]

They are all nice but the pose and whiskers in the first works really nice. Great light!

[IanC_UK]

really nice, the little ****** wouldnt stand still for more than 30 seconds when i last went there ! ;)

[johngraham2002]

amazing shots

[mojo_uk]

Wonderful shots made all the better by some wonderful light. I must get back to the Cotswold Wildlife Park soon, haven't been there in years.

Fences are always a pain in the a*** but by carefully selecting a more natural background where possible you can hide the signs of captivity at least some of the time. Another trick is to fill the frame with a close up and eliminate the background altogether.

[lostprophet]

STUNNING!!!
looks like I have to go to Cotswold soon

Andy

[futura]

First shot is fantastic, the sparkle in the cats eye is well caught. With the dark background, what you could actually do is blacken most of the background out by creating a seperate curve mask on the shot.

[EOSAddict]

Great shots, have been there myself recently and took some of the leopard with my 100-300 - you did extremely well to miss the cage/glass - your pics look like they are out in the open.

Are you close to Cotswold or were you visiting?

[joe_elway]

Beatiful. I'm rather partial to the second one myself. The body language of the cat sells it for me... it looks quite content.

When I see these and the other stunning zoo shots on this forum and others, I wonder what the hell the Irish Times was thinking with the 3 photos in their article about Dublin Zoo today. They were absolutely amatuer rush jobs.

[IanC_UK]

Have to agree there are some stunning shots coming out, heres a few of my efforts from Cotswold Wildlife Park (http://www.cookster.co.uk/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=41) in November last year. Put the link in as i dont want to steal the thread :)

[busbyea]

Excellent shots. Lighting, warm color, composition..ALL great.
Thanks for sharing.

[uktrailmonster]

Great shots, have been there myself recently and took some of the leopard with my 100-300 - you did extremely well to miss the cage/glass - your pics look like they are out in the open.

Are you close to Cotswold or were you visiting?

I live fairly close, less than an hours drive, so I try to visit at least 2 or 3 times a year. I'd like to go more often, but I never seem to find the time.

[dancinec]

Excellent captures, even with the fading light, yours is clean and crisp. Well done.

[uktrailmonster]

Have to agree there are some stunning shots coming out, heres a few of my efforts from Cotswold Wildlife Park (http://www.cookster.co.uk/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=41) in November last year. Put the link in as i dont want to steal the thread :)

Thanks for sharing those too, nice shots. I had to smile when I saw your Meerkat pics, I have some identical ones of the sentry on top of the tree post :)

[IanC_UK]

Thanks for sharing those too, nice shots. I had to smile when I saw your Meerkat pics, I have some identical ones of the sentry on top of the tree post :)

Hehehe i took hundreds of them ;) Thanks for the comment :)

[Wayne Wood]

wow these are really beautiful shots, thanx for sharing

[Ferco]

love the second one, but they're all great... well done

[EOSAddict]

I posted some more from Cotswold here, no leopards though, mine were not up to scratch!

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=1055866#post1055866

[busbyea]

Warm color; and fine detail on # 1.
Very Nice indeed.

[Tess320]

Just stunning. Colours are gorgeous, and what a damn gorgeous cat.

Nat

[uktrailmonster]

Thanks again everyone. I guess my new lens was worth it then :)

[Reigh Higgins]

Absolutely stunning.

[garbidz]

just thinking that these lovely animals are running out of space, facing extinction in the nature and the only thing left is these photos...

shots like these could maybe turn the world's attention to the tragedy that our species is causing to all the rest-

[uktrailmonster]

just thinking that these lovely animals are running out of space, facing extinction in the nature and the only thing left is these photos...

shots like these could maybe turn the world's attention to the tragedy that our species is causing to all the rest-

I hope people realise this before it's too late. They were here long before us and deserve their place. What will we be without creatures like these to behold?