Today’s Picture: Leopard Lying on a Rock

Photo Details: Leopard (Panthera pardus) lying on a rock against night sky, Mashatu Game Reserve, Tuli Block, Botswana.

Camera: Canon EOS 400D (Canon Rebel XS 10.1MP); Lens: Canon EOS 80-200 F2.8 zoom; Focal Length: 200mm; Shutter speed: 1/60; Aperture: f2.8; ISO: 400; External flash; 29 May 2009, 6.30pm.

Additional Info: We spotted this leopard during the early part of a night-drive (6.30pm, winter) and were fortunate that it opted to settle comfortably on a rock, as if posing for us (or because we’d ruined its hunt – see below).

I took the picture with a flash mounted on the camera’s hot-shoe. I’m not crazy about taking flash photographs of animals at night, mainly because of the harsh shadows cast by the flash and the “red-eye” effect that often occurs. Luckily in this case the leopard’s pose against the night sky eliminated the shadows, while red-eye is minimised because the animal is looking away from the camera.

There is, however, an additional reason that is making me question the use of flash for photographing wild animals at night, and that’s the sensitivity of their eyes to bright light. The whole issue of game viewing at night is a contentious one. The “night drive”, for which you need spotlights to find the animals, is a popular safari activity, but the bright spotlights evidently cause distress to the animals and, certainly in the case of predators, interfere with their hunting.

Roddy Smith, a veteran safari guide based in Zambia’s Lower Zambezi National Park, is vehemently opposed to the use of spots at night, unless they’re covered with red filters. According to Roddy, “night-drives using conventional white spotlights are as intrusive and disruptive to animals going about their after-dark business as papparazzi are to royal girlfriends”. Read more about the use of spotlights in Roddy’s article, Safari Night Drives and the Red-Light Experience.