Just a Sliver

[Rachel Hollander]

I took this one as the lions got up and started on their hunt. The spot was from our vehicle. I wanted to shoot wide and include the sliver of moon and some of the remaining sunset colors.

Canon 5D3
70-200 II @ 70mm
1/100
f4
ISO 1600
HH from safari vehicle, shot in portrait but cropped to eliminate 2 lions facing away from us in the fg, levels, curves, NR on sky, sharpened in CCPS.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Arthur Morris]

I love the moon and the tree, but I wish for the whole tree. I am not a big fan of this spotlit stuff. Here I wish that the spotlight and lit all of the lion.... I do like a square crop w/o the lion :)

[Loi Nguyen]

Rachel, I love it. i think this is one of your best. Love the colors and the sliver of the moon. I'd like to suggest toning down the bright grass in the FG. Ideally, would like to see the lion not so center, but this is an image to remember. TFS. Loi

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Rachel, I love the inclusion of habitat, the sunset colors, the moon and the mood created around the lion. Well done, TFS.

[Steve Canuel]

Beautiful colors in this one Rachel. I really like the transition from the orange to the blue. I personally find the BG silhouette and sky portion of this image so appealing that I'd crop out the lion all together and make it a landscape.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Rachel, this is a real African scene! :5

Like Art I would have preferred the artificial light a little wider in all directions but it's still a beautiful pic that makes me long for te smell of an African wood fire far away from the city's husstle & busstle. Beautiful colors all round and the moon as bonus! Well done on a great pic!

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Artie, Loi, Sanjeev, Steve and Tobie. I thought this one might have mixed reactions and it does. I have to look but I may have some without the lion too.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel without the lion in spotlight it would look great , but with .............. you know what it think.It just destroys the moody picture , meaning the spotlight not the lion.
Reason for this is that i do not like flash/spotlight images in general ,unless we have the only option for nocturnal creatures like bats.
Saying this , i actually never take my kit on a night drive .

TFS Andreas

[Douglas Bolt]

I like all three images - pano of lion, square of sunset and as is. The concept of a spotlight doesn't bother me, but I agree that it would have been better a little wider. Overall, a very moody image.

[Marc Mol]

Full marks for this attempt here Rachel, love the sky BG, I do wish we could see the whole tree and would reduce the noise in the sky as it's quite evident here,
I normally don't mind some noise but's it's a little too strong here.
TFS

[Steve Kaluski]

Kudos in getting the shot Rachel, I'd packed up by then and just enjoyed the moment, well apart from the 'aroma' that followed. Thought it was overall darker, not as vibrant? :w3

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everyone. Marc - I ran a couple rounds of NR and am not seeing much on the full size image. I wonder if what you are seeing is from the compression? Steve - this was early on the night drive. It was just as they got up and we started to follow them on the hunt. These were the stragglers. I looked back, saw the great colors and sliver of moon and asked Mike to stop. Life then pointed the spotlight in that direction as well. I think you probably had the big guns on the cameras at the time. I forgot about the awful smell.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

I forgot about the awful smell.

I can't believe that! :eek3:

OK, just looking on the LT, but I feel the tone/depth of the image SOOC looks better and perhaps more 'faithful' from recollection, probably a combo for me, but still good, worth the shot. The moon is certainly the icing. :cheers:

[Morkel Erasmus]

I too would have liked the lighting to be a bit more evenly spread (hard with a spot, I know) but I do like the overall mood/story/scene, Rachel, takes me to the bush - and that's as much as I can ask of any wildlife photo these days :cheers:.
Some good pointers above. Perhaps darkening the spotlight effect to reduce its "obviousness" is an option too?

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Morkel. I think with the base being so dark any illumination there will look artificial though I can try to tame it down.

Rachel

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Rachel,

Looking at this image I ask myself: "should I have a similar sighting, would I drop my equipment and enjoy what I am looking at, or would I grab the camera and shoot?". A dominant impulse on encountering something like this would be (at least for me) the desire to immediately hold on to it, to record it, possess it, and later share it with my BPN colleagues:w3. There is obviously that urge to show that "I saw this or that and it made an impression on me". This sighting occured in a place you might never return to, and it was based on "being there at the right time, in the right place", it will obviously never happen again. Therefore your desire to capture it and share it. I would have done the same. You chose to grab the camera and then shot, and I say "well done Rachel" because the chances of a sighting like this declines with every click of the shutter when you are out there.

The scenery and colours are almost theatrical, you have captured the sunset beautifully and the inclusion of the lion makes it even more special. You obviously chose a vertical frame because of the Moon and I applaud your conscious effort to have so many elements in the frame (tree, sky, Moon, lion). Sometimes it is simply impossible to include everything one sees with the naked eye. So I shall not complain about the tree, I am quite sure you tried to capture everything with the equipment you had in your hands at the time.

I like Morkel's suggestion to darken the spot light, never thought of it myself but I think it would work to great effect - do try it if you have the time, and I would love to see the results!

It is really exciting to see the various sightings and opportunities you had during your trip in South Africa, please keep them coming Rachel, and thank you for this post:5

Warmest regards,

[Brendon Cremer]

Hi Rachel, lovely image well captured, over all i feel its a little over saturated, i can live with the sky but the spotlight on the lion is very yellow, i think toning that down a little will help a lot.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Gabriela and Brendon.

Here's a rp with the saturation and strength of the spotlight reduced slightly.

Thanks again everyone for all the comments and suggestions,
Rachel

[Gabriela Plesea]

Works for me Rachel!!! Great work!

Have a great week-end,