King of the Kalahari

[Morkel Erasmus]

Sticking with Kalahari lions...here is the most imposing, most beautiful and most awe-inspiring male lion I've ever encountered.
He was patrolling his territory early last week and seemed to have fed during the night.
Lions elsewhere in Southern Africa just don't compare to the presence and looks of these black-maned Kalahari lions. The only lion I've seen photos of that might rival this guy is Notch (and his sons) of the Mara. :bg3:


Techs:
Nikon D3s with Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II + 1.4xTC @ 700mm
f8.0 @ 1/1250 SS @ ISO-450
90% of full frame image


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[Rachel Hollander]

Wow Morkel, another awe inspiring image. Gorgeous lion with incredible mane in beautiful light. You handled the side light well. Nice earth tones to the lion and bg. Print it.

TFS,
Rachel

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Wow, what an incredible animal! Great POV, amazing detail and sharpness Morkel, must have been a sight to behold.
TFS
Sanjeev

[Ignacio Yufera]

What a striking portrait of an amazing animal. Great expression, and love the traces of blood on the mane. Side light is a bonus here, I think. This is proof that you can never have too many images of Lion...

[Carole Deschuymere]

Fantastic shot of this male, love the bloody manes. As said before, really nice light and colours. He's really georgeous...

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Morkel, you have been spoilt with that light, creates some nice soft shadows which in turn, has created some nice structure and form to the subject, plus the added bonus of shooting with lower ISO. Like the HA, raised paw and disturbed dust. If this is 90% then a tad more space a the the foot of the image would be good, just bordering on a little tight for me. :w3

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Great Stuff Morkel :bg3:

Like this Kalahari lions with these extraordinary manes.
Just like to echo steve`s comment, nails it at 100% for me.

TFS Andreas

[Grady Weed]

Another vote to give it the test of the frame cropped off. Those yellow eyes are to die for, as the buffalo would say! And it looks like it did! Another amazing image of a spectacular animal. The Kalahari must be an incredible place.

[Andrew Merwin]

Superb image of a magnificent beast. I really like the red tinged mane of this lion and the slightly raised paw. TFS Morkel.

[Steve Canuel]

Beautiful shot Morkel. A fine representation of the "King of the Beasts". :cheers:

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks for the comments, guys.
He was amazing to see.
The little crop I did, was a crop for rotation (in my excitement I didn't level the camera before shooting :e3), so to add more space at the bottom would mean skewing the lion again...:eek3:

[Roger Clark]

Hi Morkel,
As you probably know, I like higher phase angle images like this. Your image really illustrates the wonderful fine texture in the fur, and nice form due to the shadows, all from the approximately 30 degree phase angle (sun about 30 degrees to your right). Well done. I wouldn't add any space below and it will be out of focus (OOF foreground is already showing, so the frame as is is excellent in my opinion.

Roger

[Sid Garige]

King indeed.

Majestic image Morkel.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thank you Roger and Sid :5
Roger, thought you'd like this...