The King on Patrol

[Morkel Erasmus]

We spent an early morning following this Kalahari brute on patrol with a younger male (out of frame here).

Initially it seemed like we were too late - they were crossing to the other side of the dune as we arrived. Instead of cutting our losses and pushing on, we decided to double back as the road would take us to the other side and they seemed to be headed towards the road. We went back, and as the other tourists left the sighting we came across them just over the ridge of the dune, out of sight from the original sighting. They were headed straight towards us. We chose a good spot, switched off the car and waited. Here the older male came onto the ridge of the dune again. Minutes later he was rubbing himself against my car.

Awesome sighting. I wish the barren trees weren't behind him but I do like the sense of place one gets from this shot.

Techs:
Canon 7D with 100-400mm L IS USM @ 400mm
f7.1 @ 1/1000 SS @ ISO-500

[Harshad Barve]

love the mood and settings here excellent image
TFS

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Morkel, hard to imagine that these are higher on the endangered list than Polar Bears!!!

I'm trying to work out, was the tree right behind him, or set back, but think it looks closer? The reason I ask was perhaps moving round more still keeping the Lion on the rhs, but guess the tree would be more visible and distracting? Perhaps if you were to the left of him you would still have him on the rhs but the body would not be in shade. Like you, like the colour, nice & soft. Any of him scenting your vehicle?:D

Steve

[Alfred Forns]

Morkel ... can add I was playing with the iamge and its easy getting some detail on the dark side !! Makes a difference !!! Sweet capture !!! ... like suggestions !!!

[Marc Mol]

We spent an early morning following this Kalahari brute on patrol with a younger male (out of frame here).

Initially it seemed like we were too late - they were crossing to the other side of the dune as we arrived. Instead of cutting our losses and pushing on, we decided to double back as the road would take us to the other side and they seemed to be headed towards the road. We went back, and as the other tourists left the sighting we came across them just over the ridge of the dune, out of sight from the original sighting. They were headed straight towards us. We chose a good spot, switched off the car and waited. Here the older male came onto the ridge of the dune again. Minutes later he was rubbing himself against my car.


It's great when a good plan comes together, you sound a lot like myself, putting yourself in their shoes (or paws). Especially when all the other tourists have gone.;)
Love the side lighting here, although agree on the shadow recovery on the male.

[Ken Watkins]

Morkel,

Lets face it the ability of all animals to stand in the "wrong" place most of the time is immense.

In this case it is a great pity, but I can easily ignore the BG, looks like you maybe able to open it up a little.

Looks like a magnificent beast:)

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for much for commenting everyone

Steve, there were 2 different trees behind him. The branches most in focus are from a fallen tree he was standing directly in front of, and the ones more OOF are from a larger tree further down the embankment - hope it makes sense?

Al here is a version with some S/H applied on the lion selectively...is this what you saw?

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Morkel appreciate the update, it's what I thought.

Think the repost is better, but IMHO it is between the two, both in the face & side where you have opened it up in S/H, but again, this is subjective and also trying to convey reality.

Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks Steve...I went for a darker feel in-camera (usually in scenes like this I'll have to use 1/3 or 2/3 on the 7D, and here I opted for 0 bias).