Determination!

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

The mother was determined to make sure her cub was safe and decided to move it from the existing den. She walked past us as if we didn't even exist and was so focused that it left us stunned. Masai Mara July 2019. The head on pose and the halo of flies was fascinating.
1DX II
500 II
1/500
f/4
ISO 6400

[greg cowle]

Great you went wide open so you even have separation of the cub from the mother's chest, maybe pushed there also by the low light; Flies are great, very nice capture of a rare sighting.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Sanjeev,

The most special sightings of predators almost always occur in low light - I can just imagine your excitement here and that rush of adrenalin, thinking fast and trying to capture this special moment in the best way possible:S3:

I am very taken with this, the expression on mom's face holding her relaxed little cub combined with a great POV make the image for me. Happy with the techs given the conditions, just wondering whether you took a chance and dialled in a higher ISO at some point?

Have you at any time considered a vertical composition? As it is I do like the placement of the lioness in the frame, slightly off centre. The shape of the other lioness in the BG is barely visible and thus not an issue IMO.

Somehow I prefer this frame to the previous, the one you posted the other day looks a tad underexposed. Tempted to add a bit of saturation and vibrance though.
Cannot wait to see what else you have in those folders, looks like you had an amazing and rewarding trip and we are in for a treat - keep them coming please:cheers:

Have a wonderful rest of the week,

Kind regards,

[haseeb badar]

Hi Doc -- I am in agreement with Gabriela , Like I mentioned in on your previous post a vertical frame would have been another option to try but can definitely understand the excitement for such a special sight. I too liked this one better and the lioness in the bkg is not an issue as it almost blends with surroundings.

A very special sighting and would love to see more from your trip.

TFS !

[Jonathan Ashton]

Sanjeev this is terrific, I found it mesmerising, o much that I couldn't keep my hands off it - hope you don't mind WDYT?

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Jon, thanks for the RP, this one works well compared to the OP.

[Alex Becker]

I really like this one. The RP adds some nice depth and color. The flies are great in this. It really is as Jon mentions a mesmerizing frame. TFS

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Sanjeev, as per my previous comment, this one just screams portrait, for me there is too much negative space to the RHS. Colours hard to tell on the laptop, but I did have a stab taken from the OP.

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Sanjeev .... top notch in terms of sighting .
Love the head on shot with the cub hanging there.....and mum looking straight into the viewer eyes !!! Brilliant !!!
I fully understand that you just took the shots .... regardless of not ideal framing .

I do agree with Steve about going portrait . Color and tones are sometimes matter of taste ... so i would skip that in this case .
Just wondering why you have such a great variation in your postings from the scene in terms of WB/ color ????

TFS Andreas

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

H Steve and all, here is a portrait I composed of this sighting. Its not an RP but maybe the next frame. So hope it's OK.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Steve I do have the full view which was shot on landscape mode, but there was a lioness next to it. Will post that frame soon. Well this all happened in like 5 to 7 seconds so really not much time to think and change gear in hand.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Andreas, I have some issues with the WB so am trying out the eyedropper tool to select a neutral grey area by looking at RGB values. Any tips on WB will be welcome.

[Steve Kaluski]

Sanjeev, when did you last calibrate????? :w3

For web presentation Sanjeev you can get away with it, but shooting in the correct format I just think is key and you save IQ, however there are always times where it's a fifty fifty, but here I would love to have scene the whole lioness carrying the cub, what a moment Sanjeev!

[Andreas Liedmann]

Sanjeev ....your RP is way away from your OP in terms of WB ... for sure a matter of taste .

Eyedropper for WB is only a starting point .... in my thinking . I normally never use it to set the WB ...just to check the values

In DPP i use the presets / or the temp slider and adjust accordingly the two tint sliders . And if i have images of the same scene .... i use the same values .

[Steve Kaluski]

Sanjeev, purely on an 'educational' point, it might be worth firing off the Raw to Andreas where he can give you some bullet points in what he did so you can follow and build on your PP skills?