The terminator

[Marc Mol]

This is "silver eye" the alpha lioness from the old airstrip pride, she lost the sight in one eye many years ago, possibly whilst engaged in a feeding frenzy with her pride.

It certainly didn't seem to effect her very much as she was still one of the dominant hunters in the pride.:5

Sanjeev..........this is a half-THEMED submission :bg3:

D4s Nikkor 400 f/2.8E FL f/4.5 1/1250s ISO640. almost F/F, bean bag from front pax seat, curves, levels, TK mid tone adj, ACR & PS CC'15.

Ruaha Nat Park- Tanzania.

Cheers
Marc

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Ha ha Marc, nice title and half-themed submission :bg3:! Humor is always welcome. Love the gaze, the BG, the sharpness and come. Works very well for me.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Marc -- I am absolutely stunned ! what a look ! Cracker ! You always manage to pull out stunning images , absolutely loved this one , superb details and sharpness and that BKG makes this image for me not to forget that eye either .

I find the blacks a bit strong for my liking though especially around that damaged eye .
BTW a lovely caption !

TFS !

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Marc,

This image reminds me of a lioness I captured in the Kruger Park a few years ago, sent the frame to a few wildlife vets and surprised to hear there was a possibility she had an eye disease.

Your lovely portrait also reminds me of "One Eye", a famous lioness who lived in the Hluhluwe/Umfolozi Game Reserve for many years and raised a great number of cubs. I had the privilege of meeting her in 2002 and saw her bravely defend a WB kill against a number of hyenas. Yours looks like a great warrior too!

Love the pose and I would have liked a bit more DOF here but say this with reserve, I have learnt that things happen fast and one is not always able to think of everything. Nice framing, great expression captured, what piercing stare in that R eye - this girl is a survivor.

Just wondering, is possible to lift the blacks a tad and thus extract more detail in places? Beautiful old girl Marc, would love to see her in action:w3

Kind regards,

[Marc Mol]

Appreciate the comments everyone,




I find the blacks a bit strong for my liking though especially around that damaged eye .




is possible to lift the blacks a tad and thus extract more detail in places?


the blacks might appear choked but are within levels/curves charts.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Marc - A nice simple portrait of this powerful lioness. Glad she remains a successful hunter despite the injury/eye condition.

TFS,
Rachel

[keith mitchell]

Marc did think we had a wind up with my first look, it is marvellous how animals manage to adapt to this kind of thing which of course is very important to survival. Stare is still great even with the missing eye.

Keith.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Cracking portrait here Marc!
Love that eye, gives me the chills. She pops nicely from the green surrounds.
Had a chuckle at "half-theme" :5

[Mike Poole]

The eye has taken a nice portrait and transformed it into an excellent shot that makes you view the shot far longer.

The eye tells its own little story, and has brought me back to this frame several times before I was able to view it on a proper screen to comment

Mike

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Marc

Love this image! The left eye immediately remind me of a blue earth globe we used in school!
Did curves layer TK with Darks2- screen blending mode and MT3 curves with Softlight blending at reduced opacity.
D&B layer.
Selective sharpening for web.
WDYT?

[Marc Mol]

Nice work Andre, just would keep my darker green BG. :5

[D. Robert Franz]

This is great .. Love it!

[Basil Dardagan]

This image captivated me immediately ! Wildlife photography is about telling stories and invoking thought and feeling and this does all that and more !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!