King of the Jungle

Gallery: WildlifePosted December 26, 2015146 views8 comments

The South American jungle, that is. This is a large, older male Jaguar that we photographed on a couple of occasions in the Pantanal of Brazil. In this case he had been sleeping under some trees and right before dusk he got up, walked out and sat down in the open on a sandbank of the river, seemingly posing for us and the other boats there photographing him. He's blind in his right eye but it hasn't hurt his hunting abilities, he's still doing well. Cropped slightly for composition
Canon 5D3 500F4 1/250 F4, iso 1600, handheld from boat (room for tripods)

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on December 26, 2015 at 10:54 PM

He certainly looks relaxed for the cameras, Nate. Nice angle.

devil

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on December 27, 2015 at 7:20 AM

Looks quite devilish, character from a horror movie! surprise

May prefer to further darken the sandbank.
Jagdeep Rajput

Registered on April 29, 2008, 686 Posts, 2857 Comments

Comment posted by William Bickle on December 27, 2015 at 8:33 AM

Hello Nate...Well captured, with the front paws quite evident on the sand. He does look mature and has excellent colouring within his coat. Would really enjoy seeing a big guy like this ,
Were you close enough to use shorter lens at time? I prefer to be close enough to get a sense of the creature, odour and its sounds by having the opportunity while using a shorter lens.

Thanks for sharing !:)

Bill
www.BillBickle.com

Registered on June 13, 2011, 183 Posts, 1702 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on December 27, 2015 at 9:17 AM

Hi Bill, for this shot we were probably 25 meters which is as close as you are allowed to get, believe me being that close to this animal is very exciting, I am not sure I would have wanted to be any closer. As I said this is just cropped a little bit, a 300 or 400mm lens would be fine but not a 70-200 unless you were going for more of an environmental shot as opposed to a portrait.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on December 27, 2015 at 9:30 AM

Hi Nate,

Nice portrait, and I agree with Jagdeep that the eye gives this one an almost devilish (or haunting) feel to it. Looks to me that you definitely got close enough to savour the experience and get a great shot! enlightened

Cheers...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on December 28, 2015 at 7:33 PM

He definitely looks like a "fat cat!" He is doing well, indeed. Cool that he was willing to pose for boats, providing a fine low perspective.

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments

Comment posted by Cay-Uwe Kulzer on December 29, 2015 at 5:34 AM

Nate,

what a great pose and you got him very well framed. A pitty that with the blind eye ...

Registered on January 27, 2004, 494 Posts, 4021 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on January 13, 2016 at 5:59 AM

Nate,
This is great devil

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments