Love Tales

[Wynand van Wyk]

I captured this image last December in the Kruger National Park. We found these two lions mating next to the road. This lunge happened for only a few split seconds.

It was overcast that morning and so my nit is the female being not as sharp as the male.

Technical:
Canon 40D + Canon 100-400mm F4.0-5.6 lens
1/500 @ F5.6 @ ISO 400
Exposure bias +1/3
06:35 AM

I would very much appreciate comments and input. Thanks!

For some reason the posting processes made the upper left background a little weird, which looks perfect in Photoshop. Don't know why?

[Dumay de Boulle]

Great IQ and detail. The look on the males face is awesome. That female looks like she has really used those upper canines. Very nice interaction Wynand.

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Hi Wynand, welcome to BPN. I am sure u will enjoy youself here, it's a great site. Superb detail on the male, and do agree with your nit, female is not as sharp. Love the interaction :cheers::cheers:

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nice moment here Wynand! Welcome to BPN's wildlife forum. :5

The female being less sharp may have more to do with subjects at close range and an aperture of f5.6 than it does the overcast weather :w3, although SS wasn't as fast as I know you would have liked.

Upper left BG looks fine on my screen? Might darken BG overall a tad.

[Ofer Levy]

A lovely behaviour shot!!
Female's head is a bit too close to the bottom IMO.

[Rachel Hollander]

Great interaction. Agree with Ofer about a little more space below. Welcome to the wildlife forum. Looking forward to seeing more of your images.

TFS,
Rachel

[Harshad Barve]

Welcome to the wildlife forum
A lovely behavior shot and agreed with comments above
TFS

[Marc Mol]

The facial expression on this male is well detailed here Wyn, agree with Morkel on your DOF issue.
I'm told that female certainly gets around................judging by what's left of those canines.:w3
TFS

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Wynand and a warm welcome to the Forum.

I might have tried to back off a little here distance wise and tried to see if I could have got a little lower POV, addressing Ofers thoughts and perhaps given yourself a better angle too? Easier said than done at times and perhaps you might have missed the moment. At 1/500sec you would not have frozen the lunge of the female giving a bit more sharpness too, increasing your DOF would have resulted in a lower SS and I don't think increasing your ISO to 800 would have gained much more, so I think you got the best you could under the circumstances. Depending on your PS skills I might also be tempted to tone down some of the lighter 'branches(?)' in the BG to make them slightly less distracting.

Having never been to Kruger it is interesting to see the different habitat, as my first impression/thoughts was that it is out of context with the normal locations you see lions in ie open plains, tall grass land etc, so thanks for enlightening me.

Hope to see more soon.

TFS
Steve

[Wynand van Wyk]

Thank you very much for your comments and suggestions!

Unfortunately, the conditions were against me on this day. I agree on giving more space at the bottom for the female, but this was captured full frame and there is also the beginning of the tar road right under her.:S3:

Thank you very much sir Steve, I did already tone them down a bit, as they were very bright. I will go and tone them down more. :S3:

Appreciate a lot!

[Morkel Erasmus]

Having never been to Kruger it is interesting to see the different habitat, as my first impression/thoughts was that it is out of context with the normal locations you see lions in ie open plains, tall grass land etc, so thanks for enlightening me.

Surprisingly Steve, most of Kruger's habitat is quite dense...there are some great plains in the central part of the park, and some patches of plains dispersed elsewhere throughout the park depending on the soil makeup and biome distribution. :bg3: