Lioness

[Brendon Cremer]

Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mark II
Focal Length: 200 mm
Shutter Speed: 1/60 sec.
Aperture: F5
ISO: 640

Lioness feeding on a Giraffe kill, in the sabi sand game reserve, we were fortunate to spenp quite some time with this pride over the 3 days they had the kill:S3:

[Ofer Levy]

I like the dramatic light in here and the interesting expression. However, it took me a few seconds to figure out what she is doing. I guess seeing the open mouth and teeth, (maybe some blood....:eek:) could have been better. I am not sure about the composition. Would crop off the right and add to the top to make it a standard horizontal rather than a pano.

[Rudi van den Heever]

Those eyes tell the whole story Brendon!:w3

[Rachel Hollander]

Brendon - I've looked at this a few times and like Ofer it initially took me a few seconds to realize what she was doing. For me, this doesn't have the wow factor of the leopard shot, probably because the giraffe isn't lit as much and the side of the lioness's face is heavily shadowed. While the eyes are dramatic, to me she looks startled by the light more than feeding frenzied. There's also a piece of either the giraffe or the lion in the shadows on the right above your first name that has a blueish cast and I find distracting. Not sure of your stance on cloning, an alternative would be a crop from the rhs.

TFS,
Rachel

[peter delaney]

Hi Brendan

I have to admit it took me a few minutes to register what was going on....in two minds about the composition... regarding the RHS of image..did u do some S/H work ?

agree with Ofers observation about an open mouth etc

[Harshad Barve]

Nice image and agreed with comments above
TFS

[Brendon Cremer]

Thanks all for your comments, i myself was not so sure about the crop, will see what i can do and repost. Rachel agree on the blue cast, its the rump of the giraffe, i initially thought it added to the pic but i think i was mistaken. Im just not quite sure why she needs to be doing something? At this stage she wasn't feeding and there was no feeding frenzy, she was just growling at the other lionesses around her, hens the flat ears and intense look in her eyes. For me the image is no more different than a tiger peeping out from behind some rocks, just in this case its a giraffe carcass. I do agree that some more visible growling and showing of teeth would be far more interesting but unfortunately we can only shoot what we see, there is no script. Im sure if we look at any image we can find ways to make it better but using the all power full word "IF" for example that a great image of the lion stalking a buffalo but it would have much more impact "IF" the lion was on top of the buffalo. Agreed it would be, but it didnt happen.

[Rachel Hollander]

Brendon - I think "doing" was the wrong word for me to use. Lots of great photos with no action. For me, despite your description, it was initially difficult to discern what it was that she was behind. The carcass is dark, mostly in the shadows and it's only a small section of the giraffe. The giraffe carcass wasn't immediately identifiable the way the rocks are in Harshad's image, for example. IMO, in most instances, when looking at a photo we want instant gratification of wanting to be able to see and understand the scene. I hope this clarifies what I was trying to say. And, of course, this is just my $.02.

Rachel

[Brendon Cremer]

Thanks Rachel i understand and agree the carcass is a little dark, was trying to make the main focal point the lioness. I have done a repost with the suggested edits, hope its better:w3