On my second trip out with my new Sony Alpha 6500, which was intended for landscapes you may have noted from my last post, we came upon a Bobcat at the Charles Towne Landing Animal Forest. This South Carolina State run park includes a number of animals that would have been in the area in the 1600s when the first settlers arrived. The Bobcat is in an enclosure but he had chosen a perfect spot above his fencing to give us a barrier free view.
I had been taking test shots with various focus and exposure settings with the 18-110mm lens mounted. Of course I wished I had the longer lens on, but I did want to see how the lens would perform and didn’t want to take a chance he would leave while I was changing lenses.
The Bobcat was asleep in the sun when we first saw him and it turns out I had ample opportunity to adjust the camera settings, drop the lens hood then the UV filter that wasn’t tightened enough, and take some photos with the shorter lens before he opened his eyes.
He started stretching as I switched lenses. I should have changed to a faster shutter speed at this point but was still pleased with the images.
After a look around the Bobcat dropped out of the tree and disappeared into the undergrowth.
The joy of learning new gear. Dropping stuff 😂
I was quite relieved it didn’t roll under the fence.
What a great surprise, and a gorgeous posing cat!
Paz
He was very obliging, clearly used to being watched.
It looks like the bobcat was obliging for you to change lenses. 🙂 Gorgeous cat!
He is beautiful and definitely obliging.
The shots are beautifully sharp and the setting complements the subject so nicely!
Thanks, Belinda! It was like that tree was cut for him to perch on. He even worked his claws on the cut stump as part of his stretching routine before he left.