Bite force!

[Marc Mol]

The lead huntress from the 20 strong Selinda pride taking down a fit & healthy daga boy one morning, this old boy got up 3 times in the battle that lasted nearly an hour, but with 15 lions around you he was a goner from the start!

What a morning this was, I was most fortunate to witness the whole event from start to finish, I love the down the lens stare she is giving me, and with this being only my second time I've had a buffalo kill in any sort of light that wasn't approaching night, I was extremely thankful. :bg3:

Couldn't do much about the lioness in the FG, with needing to keep those big claws in play :w3


D4s Nikkor 400 f/2.8E FL f/7 1/1000s ISO450, cropped to 4;5 ratio, bean bag from front pax seat. Curves, levels, TK masking in PS CC'15 & ACR. Lightened the eyes +.25 exp.


Selinda- Botswana.

C & C most welcome

Cheers
Marc

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Marc - Love the down the barrel look and the feeling of determination you get from viewing this. I agree about keeping the claw in. An alternative might be to crop to just below the last nail to eliminate the back of the lion in the fg and then have just the ears. Not sure whether it makes much of a difference though. The image looks like the light was a bit harsher but yet the shadows seem light. If it were mine I would give it a bit more depth in both the shadows and to a lesser extent the midtones. I would also reduce the blue and cyan in the buff's back :bg3: or add some black to it. Of course, much of this is subjective and you were there. Definitely one I would love to have seen and captured myself.

TFS,
Rachel

[Marc Mol]

Thanks Rachel


Hi Marc - Love the down the barrel look and the feeling of determination you get from viewing this. I agree about keeping the claw in. An alternative might be to crop to just below the last nail to eliminate the back of the lion in the fg and then have just the ears. Not sure whether it makes much of a difference though. The image looks like the light was a bit harsher but yet the shadows seem light. If it were mine I would give it a bit more depth in both the shadows and to a lesser extent the midtones. I would also reduce the blue and cyan in the buff's back :bg3: or add some black to it. Of course, much of this is subjective and you were there. Definitely one I would love to have seen and captured myself.

TFS,
Rachel

The light certainly could have been better as this was approaching 9.00am, couldn't do much about that of course, FWIW I used around +20 in shadow recovery in ACR, so not over doing it there.
Struggled a bit getting good tonal depth on the buffalo as he was covered in heavy dust with the battle raging on, so this could do with more work possibly.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hey Marc
Intense image, love the down-the-barrel composition and drama. Seems like your trip was awesome, looking forward to more!
I do agree with Rachel on the blueish tint of the buff's skin. Did you enjoy that 400mm?? :5

[Marc Mol]

Thanks Rachel & Morkel.

Did you enjoy that 400mm?? :5

It was just a joy to use Morkel, THE best lens I have ever owned/used :cheers: and found that 400 was just the right focal length here, I think I used the 1.4 tc once/twice the whole trip.

[Mike Poole]

Got to love that 'down the barrel' stare, especially with the snarl. Perfect world scenario wouldn't have the lioness in the FG, but that's nature, and I think you made the best decision regarding the framing.

Excellent work

Mike

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Marc .. what an intense moment and frame captured .
One must love that stare ..... seems to be a warning !!!!
Under the given chaos when it comes to taking down a buff or similar you got lucky and did well with the crop .

I am with Rachel about her tonal and color suggestions . I would overall tone down the whole frame a fraction , just load the red channel as mask , place a point in the middle of the curve ( curve adjustment ) and 5-10 points down depending on your taste . Just my 2 cents .

Nice work Marc , TFS Andreas

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Marc

Just my take.....

ANDRE( Not Andreas..LOL)

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Marc,

This is one of the most intense images I have seen from you so far and I am loving it.

Great to be so close to the subjects and the expression from the lioness is priceless: claws gripping flesh, a fatal bite... it is final, no escape...

In terms of crop I quite like the OP - IMO the other characters in the frame make it more interesting, lots of drama as the victim is surrounded and no chance of getting away.

You already got a number of suggestions above regarding PP work, all is left for me is to say: try them all and see if you can take this to another level, this is so special a capture and you have nothing to lose. I would add a humble suggestion for some D/B, more burn than dodge if possible, there are certain areas that IMO would benefit from a bit of "pop". Another small thing is that dark shadow at the top RHC - is it a tree? A tad distracting and I would do away with it if this was mine.
Awesome stuff, gripping action, I so look forward to more! I take it this was one of your best trips ever, very excited to see the rest of your frames, do keep them coming:cheers:

Kind regards,

[Marc Mol]

Many thanks Mike, Andreas & Andre


Hello Marc,

This is one of the most intense images I have seen from you so far and I am loving it.

Great to be so close to the subjects and the expression from the lioness is priceless: claws gripping flesh, a fatal bite... it is final, no escape...

In terms of crop I quite like the OP - IMO the other characters in the frame make it more interesting, lots of drama as the victim is surrounded and no chance of getting away.

You already got a number of suggestions above regarding PP work, all is left for me is to say: try them all and see if you can take this to another level, this is so special a capture and you have nothing to lose. I would add a humble suggestion for some D/B, more burn than dodge if possible, there are certain areas that IMO would benefit from a bit of "pop". Another small thing is that dark shadow at the top RHC - is it a tree? A tad distracting and I would do away with it if this was mine.
Awesome stuff, gripping action, I so look forward to more! I take it this was one of your best trips ever, very excited to see the rest of your frames, do keep them coming:cheers:

Kind regards,


Hi Gabriela

Many thanks, I played with the mid & dark tones in TK and a touch of de haze in ACR also removed the stump (normally I don't clone/remove items) and came up with this RP:

[Andreas Liedmann]

WDYT ?

[Marc Mol]

WDYT ?

Thanks for spending some time on this Andreas.

Although I prefer my RP of the claws, your buffalo hide/fur adds a lot more punch, having said that even though it looks better in terms of what we'd expect to see for a buff, it doesn't reflect the dusty powdering texture that was present, if you get my meaning.

Can I assume this was what you did?:

"I would overall tone down the whole frame a fraction , just load the red channel as mask , place a point in the middle of the curve ( curve adjustment ) and 5-10 points down depending on your taste."


I may need to go back to the RAW file and start fresh, as this will be the groundwork for all the other battle images I have of this sequence.

TFS

[Andreas Liedmann]

"I would overall tone down the whole frame a fraction , just load the red channel as mask , place a point in the middle of the curve ( curve adjustment ) and 5-10 points down depending on your taste"

No Marc was not that easy ....... my suggestion was just quick one for you to follow and explore more on your own :S3:.

I did went through my beloved channel blending , in this case i used the blue channel and multiplied it with 80 % into the red for overall more tone and depth .I added even more depth by selecting a lights masks ( forgot which one ) and multiplied the selected tones even more at 30 % layer opacity ( curves adj . layer )
I worked separately on the buff by selecting the buff with the " Color range selection tool " an then added more depth / contrast and removed the blues . Finally i grouped everything together and excluded the eyes from all my edits , as they went darker with all that . So eyes are as in OP .

No problem Marc , you have been there and you have the original , i just interpret this image where i like it to go or how it should look , so just a very subjective view of things :w3.

Anyhow exchange thoughts is always great even if one decides to go on his own route

Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

I like your RP better, Marc. More punch and the blood on the paw is now visible:)

Kind regards,

[haseeb badar]

Hi Marc -- That is a fantastic image , that down the barrel look makes this image for me . I liked your RP , the added punch and removal of bluish cast has improved the image , the FG lioness is not a problem for me as it gives the perfect reflection of the scene and situation .

TFS !