Rain Water, Tastes so Sweet

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Friends,

Been looking for an image for this month's Theme for the past few nights. I eventually found this Kalahari male lion quenching his thirst after a nice meal the previous night.

His belly index was quite high. As soon as I have a chance to process more images I would like to show you how handsome he was. Despite his not-quite-decadent mane, he had those dark tufts on both sides of his abdomen- this is a sign of great virility and strength, I am told.

Anyway, take a look at him and see what you think. Techs as follows:

Nikon D4
Nikon 300mm F2.8
ISO 1000
F7.1
1/1600s

Kind regards,

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, like the framing and the inclusion of the front legs and the tongue, lapping up the water.

Not sure, as I'm still on the laptop, but a bit more tonal depth wouldn't hurt, but that's the laptop.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Gabriela - Nice drinking pose and comp with a low pov. I agree with Steve that the midtones and dark tones can use a bit more depth. Did you lighten the eye?

TFS,
Rachel

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much Steve and Rachel,

I will look into adding more tonal depth, looking at this lion now I think his mane could do with a few tweaks:)

And no I did not lighten the eye, I once did this to a serval and Steve and Morkel said it looked unnatural - learnt my lesson!

Will RP at the week-end, appreciate your feedback, very much:5

Warmest regards,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gabriela good looking male even if not fully grown i think ...only a few scars , might become a warrior one day.
I like the whole image as presented , lovely realistic colors of an overcast day or when light has already faded away , from the given techs i think it is overcast daylight .The faint of reds in the face might show that he had successfully hunted .... or at least he had taken something over .
Crop works well and i like the inclusion of the legs , well done Gabriela .
I do agree partially with Steve and Rachel , understand their thoughts , but i am ok with overall tones .

TFS Andreas ....good to see you back posting and commenting :5

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Andreas,

I am smiling now, thinking I was busy looking at your latest post at the same time you were looking at mine:) And you are absolutely right, it was overcast with the sun peeping through thick clouds every now and then. I dropped the ISO whenever I had a chance. The good thing about those recent rains was, the animals often drank from those little "rivers" or rather pools in the road, rain water is much sweeter and cleaner. The absence of bees surely appreciated by all wildlife...Waterholes overflowed too and created a more natural setting, I just had to work harder to find my lions...

Many thanks for viewing and feedback, Boetie. Another frame coming up now now, let me know what you think please:w3

Have a lovely week-end,

[Jonathan Ashton]

Gabriela, this looks absolutely superb to me, I like the composition and also the water dripping from his tongue. The colours look fine to me, I don't know if he was a little darker or not , but wow he looks impressive.
He looks like a really handsome chap to me, ever since I was about 5 years old the lion was my favourite animal and here we are 61 years later ... and he still is my favourite!
(I did in fact have a fictional pet lion, it went with me everywhere, my mum had to ask people to move to make way for him and people had to hold doors open in shops!)

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Jon,

I too had a fictional pet lion at some stage, I just never told anyone about it. Too embarrassed to admit it, I guess. Used to imagine he was sleeping on the carpet near my bed...and what a disappointment every morning to find an old German Shepard lying there instead!

So glad you like this, thank you from the heart for those kind comments. My PP work is far from perfect but I love to share my love for the species!

Really appreciate your time to view,

Warmest regards,