Lion cubs in Kruger NP

[Andreas Liedmann]

Photographed this cubs in Kruger NP couple of years ago, forgot where in the park.One of the rare occasions , when i was accompanied by my family, so photo opportunities have been limited by moving kids in the car and other difficulties.
We observed this pride with a quite impressive male , three females and six cubs , relaxing at the end of a dead end road.All was good for 15 minutes , then another car came and all disappeared in the bush!

Canon EOS 1D MK II
EF 500 IS L + 1,4 TC
Bean bag

F8 / 1/320sec / ISO 200

Processed in ACR + PS ; cloned out one distracting element in BG ; cropped to 70% of FF

Hope you like the funny impression of the cubs as myself.
C&C as always welcome.

Andreas

[Ken Watkins]

Andreas,

Great pose here!

Not to sure about the Male in BG?

Have you tried a vertical.

Here is a quick re-post

[Andrew Merwin]

Andreas, I think this is a great image as posted. I like the tail in the mouth & I think the male in the BG adds to the image because it tells a story.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andreas, great timing, the tail in the mouth is just priceless and captures the playfulness of these cubs which is so endearing.

The image has some lovely light and having the hint of green above just helps break up the BKG, no issue with being on the sandy road either. The 'exhausted' lion seems quite content for the cubs to play and having your presence near by, cool. Personally having the whole lion in would have been better, so removing the extender I think would have been the ideal option, however you then have the trade off to crop, but in this instance I feel that would have been the route to go. But saying that this is with hindsight. :S3: DOF, clarity and sharpness looks good, but personally, again I would have preferred more ISO for the SS.

Perhaps, and this is only a 'perhaps' but if you have increased any of the blacks ad an adjustment layer in Curves, Levels or Contrast, I personally might just ease off a fraction, just looks a tad heavy around the eyes, but personal choice. :w3

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi and hello,
thanks for watching and commenting .
Ken - no go for vertical here.Image content is as i wanted it, to include the adult male in the BG. Not closer and not further away.I have images of these two without any other lion in BG, but not in this behavior .
Steve - i should have left the blacks as they are, before i gave the image the last bit of punch, in PS it looked on the border but still ok.So backing off a bit should work better.Sadly i have no image with the combo of full male lion and that priceless tail bite, so that is real life.
It is nice that you remind me about the technical mistakes i made , but nothing i can change afterwards , just try to remember next time.Today i also would prefer to have more ISO, by that time i was in the stage of knowledge to keep the ISO as low as possible , due to noise appearance in the image.
Andrew - thank you for your kind words
TFW Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andreas, no problem. As I said, comments are always with hindsight, however if we don't make mistakes how can we learn, and we are constantly learning, likewise camera bodies have improved too, so it's just a case of now honing those skills you have aquired.

I really hope that some of the points raised over the past few months whilst you have been here will prove fruitful for your next trip in a couple of months time. :S3:

[Andreas Liedmann]

Steve - i hope so , too !!!!
I think i have listened to different points of you and others in here about PP work , and think i improved a lot of my knowledge in PP since i became member here. Think i am a winner already. But i think it is different story , to be out there.You cannot try and try and try, just simply the situations will pass by quickly.
At least i have hope to remember some stuff , i have learned so far. Will see in 3 months what comes out , when i watch the results of that trip.

Cheers Andreas

[Robert Amoruso]

Andreas,

Great capture wiht the tail in mouth. I would agree with Steve that having the male's feet in would have been nice, but have been in these instances many times to all of a sudden an alternate perspective occurs from the one you are photographing with no time to remove converters. I think you handled this image and the timing of it well.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Andreas, what a great moment between these 2!
I like the male in the BG - would just crop the "green layer" from the top?
And yes, back down on the contrast/blacks on the cubs just a tad. Dappled light handled very well.
:5

PS: great having these sightings to yourself in Kruger, but don't you just hate it when a person who doesn't know of the sighting comes charging up and chases the animals away? :eek3:

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks Robert appreciate your comment.
Morkel - thanks for commenting , and yes i hated it , but what should i have done - take it as it was , and moved on !!!!

Andreas

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Amazing capture Andreas. Great timing, I like the original and Ken'svertical crop looks great too! Well done.
sanjeev

[Rachel Hollander]

Andreas - Huge cuteness factor here. The tail in the mouth is priceless. Nice light and I like the oof male in the bg.

TFS,
Rachel

[Markus Jais]

Great moment and very cute. I like the old male in the BG.

Markus

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

sweet shot. I like both versions, each creating a totally different feel. The male in the frame adds to the story for me.