Amur leopard

This is a picture of the rarest cat in to world. Between 25 and 40 remain in the wild. It's a camera trap picture. Nikon D200 and 28mm lens. Sadly it's not quite sharp so I'm off for a rematch on Thursday. If anyone has tips for the cold I'd be greatful. It was minus 27 last time I heard.

Enjoy the trip. As to the cold.... Cask strength whiskey perhaps - won't help with the cold, but will help you forget about not feeling fingers & toes

Layers and more layers, none over thick. For the legs, tights and for the hands neoprene rubber gloves are best, at least as a liner, for example the “Extremities Power Stretch Glove”.

The Leopard isn’t quite as sharp as you would like, it is never that easy with camera traps etc. but saying that, an excellent result, as you have captured the Leopard superbly in its habitat. Good luck.

A compromise that allows more dexterity in cold conditions are neoprene wrist warmers available for people with circulatory problems (Reynauds Disease). They fit like a mitt with no fingers - only a thumb hole and they cover your palm up to the upper wrist. This means the main blood vessels in your wrist get kept toasty and thus helps keep fingers warm, and you can still move your fingers as they're not restricted. You can wear ordinary gloves over the top to complete the layering. Available from some chemists, but also online. Other thing is the hot packs which you can reuse - to release the heat you click the metal tag in the bag and they get hot and the liquid turns to solid, then you boil them and they return to a liquid state ready to use again, and can keep your hands warm for an hour or so. Carry 3 or 4 and that'll do you for the day, and you can recharge in a pot of hot water or microwave at night. Saw them in my local petrol station last week for £2 each.

A camera trap rare leopard image and slightly oof has all the ingredients of a WPOTY winner ,Congrats on getting a shot of this illusive animal,Good luck on the next trip

Dave

Interesting and important image of such a rare animal. It seems like an unusual composition though. Were you hoping for the cat to scent mark or scratch this tree?

This looks like a single flash. Are you able to use multiple flash set ups? I also use a D200 with Trailmaster and can't find a way to get secondary flashes to go to standby, either wired or wireless. I have to use batt. packs but even so they only last 24 hours whereas the hotshoe linked flash (TTL cord) will last days.

Great photo.

Cheers

Terry

I think any photo of Amur leopards is highly impressive, so well done. It's depressing how few of these are left in the wild so good luck photographing them.

Matt

Great shot. I like it.

well, at least to look on the bright side, somone is making a living taking photographers there instead of men with guns.

good luck on the next trip.

Matt says it all.
A privilege to view given their rarity, thanks for sharing and hope the upcoming trip goes well

Terry this was supposed to be a 3 flash set up. The way it works for me is that the first time the flash goes off one flash works then normally the next time all 3 go off. I'm guessing all the batteries were low here because I got quite a few black frames with no flash firing.

Thanks Andrew. Good luck for the upcoming trip and kudos for working with such a rare and difficult animal.

Cheers

Terry