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The lens behind Ingo Arndt's award-winning puma shots

A female puma lunges at the neck of a full-grown male guanaco.
Fur flies as a female puma called Sarmiento launches her attack on a full-grown male guanaco. Wildlife photographer Ingo Arndt spent months tracking pumas in Chile's Patagonia region before capturing this award-winning shot. Taken on a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II (now succeeded by the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III) with a Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens (now succeeded by the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM) and a Canon Extender EF 1.4x III at 1/3000 sec, f/4 and ISO1000. © Ingo Arndt Photography

When Ingo Arndt looked at the photo of a puma he'd just taken during a dramatic hunt in the mountains of Chile's Patagonia region, he told his trackers he thought it was a prizewinner. A year later he was proved right, when the shot earned him a prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year award.

After enduring seven months of extreme cold and biting winds while tracking wild pumas in Torres del Paine National Park, the German wildlife photographer was rewarded with not one, but two prizes in the 2019 competition: joint winner in the Mammals Behaviour category for the hunting shot and highly commended in the Animal Portraits category for a delicate portrayal of puma family life. He also won the People's Choice Award for a third puma shot – and all three images were captured on a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II (now succeeded by the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III) paired with a Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens (now succeeded by the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM).

While the notoriously private animals had been photographed in the wild before, many of the images had been taken with camera traps. "My plan was to photograph the first complete puma story, behind the camera," Ingo says. "Complete means as much behaviour as you can show, so that includes mothers raising their cubs and hunting."

Ingo, who has photographed wildlife across the globe for publications including GEO and National Geographic, had to be careful with his kit choice for the challenge. He needed a lightweight and versatile lens that would be able to deliver in the difficult conditions. Here, he explains why the high-performance but lightweight Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens was the perfect choice for photographing these elusive big cats at the end of the earth.

A female puma lies on the ground, her two cubs playing behind her.
Ingo's photograph of a female puma with her two four-month-old cubs was highly commended in the Animal Portraits category of the 2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards. "You need a good knowledge of the animal that you're going to try and photograph," says Ingo. "You need to have a feeling for it and what it will do next." Taken on a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II with a Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and a Canon Extender EF 1.4x III at 1/1500 sec, f/5.6 and ISO1000. © Ingo Arndt Photography
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Tracking Patagonia's big cats

Photographing the Patagonian predators proved to be both time-consuming and expensive – Ingo took seven trips, ranging from two weeks to three months in duration – with remote accommodation, vehicles, permits and expert trackers to pay for. Initially self-funded, he gained support from sports brand PUMA and was commissioned by National Geographic, which allowed him to dedicate time in the field, working alongside his wife Silke, who shoots video.

"It's hard to find pumas, so you need a lot of experience or very good trackers," says Ingo. "The problem is, you never find pumas in the same place. In this region, there are a lot of caves, rocks and vegetation where they can hide. When you leave at night, they go hunting, so they move, and the next day you have to start from the beginning."

A female puma and her three cubs look down from the top of a ridge.
Colmillo, a female puma, with her three-month-old cubs, who are just old enough to walk around with her. "The good thing about spending so much time with the same pumas was that they got used to me, so I could get closer," says Ingo. Taken on a Canon EOS-1D X (now succeeded by the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III) with a Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and a Canon Extender EF 1.4x III at 1/1500 sec, f/5.6 and ISO800. © Ingo Arndt Photography
Wildlife photographer Ingo Arndt sits with his Canon camera equipment in front of sleeping pumas.
Ingo photographing sleeping pumas in the rugged terrain of Torres del Paine National Park. The light weight of the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens meant it could be transported easily between locations. "You can't carry two lenses in a backpack and walk for 20km," says Ingo. © Jorge Cardenas

With a minimum home range of 25km², pumas can cover some ground – meaning Ingo had to as well. "It was hard work. On some days, we had to walk 20km up and down the hills without trails," he says. "Then I only carried the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens with a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II – and maybe the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens. Everything else was left in the car to save weight." While some lenses were simply too heavy to carry all day, the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens' lightweight design and weather-resistant build meant Ingo could carry it for hours across the rugged terrain.

While Ingo primarily used a tripod, he was also able to lean on fences and logs for shake-free shots, due to the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens' 4-stop Image Stabilizer technology. This, coupled with its fast aperture, also gave him particular flexibility covering action in low light. "The Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens is very fast for action photography and absolutely sharp," he says. "The quality is stunning even with an open aperture, which was important for shooting the pumas early in the morning or in the evening, when there was little light."

A puma cub stares down the lens of Ingo Arndt's camera.
One of Sarmiento's two cubs, aged about 10 months, stares down the lens. "When you photograph lions in Africa or tigers in India, you're in a car. If you're lucky, it works; if not, you're often frustrated. Here you can walk with pumas and get in position for the best shots," says Ingo. "You have to be careful, because these cats are wild and dangerous, but it's an unbeatable experience." Taken on a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II with a Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and Canon Extender EF 1.4x III at 1/750 sec, f/8 and ISO2500. © Ingo Arndt Photography

High-octane hunting sequences

To compile a full profile of the pumas' behaviour in the wild, Ingo needed to photograph them hunting. The big cats' favoured prey is guanaco, a large South American mammal closely related to the llama, but capturing a kill proved to be a challenge. "I spent five months trying to get a photograph of a puma hunting a guanaco," he laughs. "For my story, it was the most important picture. Many times, I was close, but something always went wrong. Sometimes you have waited for hours, and the puma is 20m away from the guanaco, and on the final jump another guanaco sounds a warning call… We had a lot of frustrating days."

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One day, Ingo's trackers spotted a female puma called Sarmiento resting alone on a hillside. They knew if she had left her cubs there was a good chance she was going to hunt. After watching her for about an hour, they saw her stalking a large male guanaco. Ingo's trackers got into position while he moved closer to the guanaco. Unable to see the well-camouflaged puma, he followed her prey and listened to his radio as the trackers observed her getting closer and closer.

"I focused on the guanaco's neck, he says. "Maybe 10 seconds later, I saw the puma jump, and I took as many pictures as I could – the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II shoots 14fps in Burst mode, 16fps in Live View. I was concentrating so hard I didn't really see what was happening. I took about 60 pictures in four and a half seconds.

"I used the AF tracking to follow the action and change the focusing points, which was very helpful. With the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, I was shooting at f/4 and 1/3000 sec, so you don't have much depth of field. All the pictures I shot during that hunt were sharp – it was amazing."

Ingo immediately knew he'd got the shot. "I said to my trackers, 'This picture will win an award, I'm pretty sure'. I've been doing this for 30 years and sometimes you can see that something has a big chance. It really was a special moment. We celebrated into the night."

Two pumas on a mountain ridge stalk each other during a mating ritual.
Courting pumas often travel the landscape together for several days and Ingo even managed to photograph the animals mating, which meant spending a lot of time in the same location. The 4-stop Image Stabilizer in the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, combined with its fast aperture, made it ideal for capturing shots in low light. Taken on a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II at 1/5000 sec, f/8 and ISO800. © Ingo Arndt Photography
A female puma and her two cubs bask in the sunshine on a grassy mountainside.
Sarmiento and her two almost adult cubs, aged about 14 months, relaxing in the sun on a grassy mountainside. The Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens and a Canon Extender EF 1.4x III enabled Ingo to maintain his distance and avoid scaring the pumas while photographing their natural behaviour. Taken on a Canon EOS-1D X Mark II at 1/1500 sec, f/8 and ISO800. © Ingo Arndt Photography

Capturing family behaviour through a telephoto lens

Over seven months Ingo photographed 18 different pumas, but he focused on documenting two mothers – Sarmiento and Colmillo – and their cubs. The cats became used to Ingo's presence, allowing him to capture intimate images – although it was always important to shoot from a distance with the telephoto lens.

"Most of the time I used a Canon Extender EF 1.4x III with the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens, because you have to stay back a little to see natural behaviour," says Ingo. "Sometimes it's possible to get closer, but then the mother will not show you the cubs or the animals look nervous. I wanted to show natural-looking pumas – not scared ones. Without the Canon Extender EF 1.4x III, the cubs would never be seen so exposed on a rock. If you go too close, even if they know you, they will hide in the vegetation. To see them in the open is like winning the lottery."

It was these moments, when Ingo felt a connection with the wild pumas and captured never-before-seen behaviour, that made it his favourite story to date. "To me, the puma is the most elegant of all the big cats," he says. "They are so beautiful. I was standing right in front of them, which gives you a little kick. And then I had this dramatic, wild, beautiful landscape in southern Chile – I've never seen a landscape like it before. When you're shooting a beautiful cat like a puma in that landscape, you cannot beat it."

Written by Lucy Fulford


Ingo Arndt's kitbag

The key kit pros use to take their photographs

Wildlife photographer Ingo Arndt and his wife Silke with their Canon kit.

Camera

Canon EOS-1D X Mark III

The successor to the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II that Ingo favours offers the ultimate creative toolkit, with superb low-light performance, deep learning AF and 5.5K RAW video.

Lenses

Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM

The successor to the Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens that Ingo loves is super lightweight and perfect for professional wildlife, sports and news photographers. "All the pictures I shot during that hunt were sharp – it was amazing," says Ingo.

Accessory

Canon Extender EF 1.4x III

Ideal for press, sports and nature photography, this compact extender increases the focal length of Canon L-series telephoto or telephoto zoom lenses by a factor of 1.4x, with higher AF accuracy and improved communication between camera and lens. "You have to stay back a little to see natural behaviour," says Ingo.

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