The cat that got the cream

She’s not that keen a photographer, but after this special photo in the Kruger National Park, Lynette

Pretorius from Vanderbijlpark and her husband Martin will be going back to the park to look for more special photos.

“I used my happy snap camera to shoot this leopard near Berg-enDal. The sun was behind us and its final rays caught the leopard before disappearing behind the ridges. That’s when I could capture this moment. The pic was my phone’s wallpaper photo for a long time.”

Seeing a leopard is more than special already, but to then get a photo of it! Yet there is much more to the picture than just the elusive leopard.

The composition is fantastic, and Lynette gets full marks for that. Even if the section with the leopard doesn’t take up much of the frame – less than a quarter of the total area – you know exactly where to look.

The tree stump in the top left corner does most of the work. When you’re looking from a distance, you first see the two dark knots on the stump, and they’re like two fat fingers pointing to the leopard. Secondly, the stump on which the leopard lies is a repetition of the diagonal angle of the upper stump, but it is almost as if it acts like a bowl in which the leopard has settled.

The leopard itself is on the vertical third line – a safe approach for composition. Its leg hanging down gives the photo a little more energy, and you’re not sure if he’s getting comfortable or on the verge of running away.

The green twigs on the edge of the frame can disturb, but it remains a striking photo.