Restful morning

[Shreyas Mantri]

A beautiful male resting peacefully. The Lion looked to be pretty healthy until he got up limping and the wound on his hind leg was visible.
Shot in late morning light.

Canon 7D, Manual, f/5.6, (300mm II + 2.0x III), @ 600mm, 1/1000s, ISO 200

Comments welcome!

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Shreyas,
love the details in this lion. Might would have been good if he would have faced you and not his behind :))
that is just me, most time we just not have the chance to come from the other side, sadly

ciao Anette

[Morkel Erasmus]

I don't mind the pose that much, Shreyas - there's enough head-turn with a glint in the eye to make it work as is.
Looks like typical Etosha waterhole surrounds.
Detail on the lion looks good...I'd crop from the RHS to remove the piece of elephant dung :bg3:.
Let's see what others chime in with...

[Rachel Hollander]

Nice to see an Etosha lion and I know it is sometimes difficult to reposition at the waterholes. I would have tried to move a little to the right if possible. You handled the late morning light well and exp looks good. Not a fan of all the dung and droppings in the shot but unfortunately nothing you could do about it, except I agree with Morkel's suggestion of a crop.

TFS,
Rachel

[Brendon Cremer]

LOvely image, the comp and lion position is not an issue for me as he is looking back and as morkel said just enough eye. You have done well getting the lion to stand out nicely in what can sometimes be quite a difficult and busy environment. Agree on the crop suggestions above

[Roman Kurywczak]

I too don't mind the position but agree with Morkel's suggested crop. Nicely done!

[Steve Kaluski]

Unfortunately I don't think we have a choice in where these animals decide to position themselves, and it's all part of the habitat, however I would certainly crop the dung on the RHS, no question.

You might like to consider applying a Luminosity layer with an Opacity % which gives a bit more depth both to the Lion and in parts, to the environment. Using a brush with various set %'s works I feel, likewise flipping the image. Personally I think we get to fixed and that if an image works better flipped, then do it, just because you shot it that way, may not always, be the best. I think it's good to experiment & see. Obviously don't do it with signs in the BKG. :bg3:

TFS
Steve