King of the Hill

[Russell Johnson]

Or at least a termite mound in the Kwando Concession.

1d Mark Iv
500mm
1/1250 @F6.3
ISO400

PP wise, after my last post, I tried to push the color depth in the mid tones WDYT?

128606

[Andre Pretorius]

Russel, in my ignorance I tried to find a crit on your image of this magnificent boy, CAN NOT. Image very crisp, comp perfect, love angle, exposure too a tee, BG fairly smooth and not letting eye wonder, stunning pose and all the other techs what I do not know too much about-Stunning!!!!!

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Russell, glad you pushed things, looks good, but will take a better look later on 'Whopper' :w3

Like the composition and POV. My only observation would be to perhaps ease off on the blacks on the nose & RHS of the gums, just looks a bit heavy? Love the catchlight in the eyes and tonal depth. One cool Lion image, very Aslan!

TFS
Steve

[Joe Senzatimore]

I agree with Steve's observations , but still love this one. Very "Majestic" feel to it.

[Russell Johnson]

Thanks for all the comments, have actually tweaked the colour a little further - Will address the blacks when I have a bit more time Mr K! :) Though could be my tired eyes playing tricks.

128620

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Russell - Fantastic pose and comp. I really like the inclusion of the tail. I prefer the color in your OP. There is a very slight blue cast coming through in the ground by the hind foot/leg but it comes through even more in the rp. Good point by Steve about the blacks. Definitely worth tweaking this one.

TFS,
Rachel

[Diane Miller]

Magnificent image of a magnificent beast! The repost is an improvement, if that's possible.

My only nit would be that you might try the old portrait photographer's trick of whitening the teeth.....:w3 (No, really, that wasn't serious.)

[Loi Nguyen]

Russell, great image of a king! Love the golden light hitting the king's face in the OP. I find the RP a bit cold. The teeth and claws are great.

[dankearl]

No critique from me.
Excellent IQ and DOF.
Terrific image.

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Russell, excellent image of Aslan :bg3:
I like your OP, the RP has a blue cast coming through. Somehow the "cut" between the hill and BG on the left side of the lion looks like cut with a Japanese cooking knife. Very clean. But there is not much you can do about it.
Very nicely done.

Ciao
Anette

[Brendon Cremer]

A very nice image Russell great POV, lovely detail and nice expression. For me the OP has a better colour than the RP, the RP is a little too cool and has a slight blue cast throughout. Agree with Steve re the blacks being a tad heavyin the OP and even more so in the RP.

[Morkel Erasmus]

A lovely setting and pose, in great light here Russel.
I think the ideal colour is somewhere between your OP and RP...as I like the bluer sky in the RP but there's too much blue coming through elsewhere for me.
My first thought was also the blacks on the nose/mouth when I opened it up for the first time yesterday. :5

[Russell Johnson]

Thanks all for your comments.

Will probably end up masking that final color curves adjustment for the sky only, and remove the blue cast through the rest of the image.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Russell, if was me, just open the blacks in the areas I have suggested and leave everything else as per the OP, anything more and I fear you may spoil a superb image.

[Russell Johnson]

Ya, Steve, also doing that too... :) Thanks for the reminder.

[John Ippolito]

Superb image as noted by others. The OP is right on in color. Agree with Steve K on the bit of opening the blacks a bit, but what a very beautiful image all around !!

[Shreyas Mantri]

Quite a pose, and the OP works great for me. Can't get enough of these guys :S3:
TFS