Playtime

[Mark Wiseman]

This is one of my recent images from my last trip to the Kgalagadi. These subadult lions had drunk and were very playful which lent itself to some magic photo opportunities. I like the way the tails are opposing one another. The lion at the back unfortunately is a little out of focus and I should have increased the f stop a little bit more. The light was magic and the dust and dirt flying around adds.
Camera details:
Nikon D3s
Nikon 600mm f4 VR
Aperture f7.1
Shutter speed 1/1250
ISO 900
Maual mode
Auto ISO
Image processed in ACR and CS5 on a MBP 15".
Any comments and critiques welcome.
:cheers::5

[Rachel Hollander]

Mark - I love the opposing tails and their body positions. Agree with your self-critique on dof/aperture. I would clone out the fly on the very lhs. Btw did you apply any blur to the bg because it looks like a rather sudden line on the rhs as compared to the lhs?

TFS,
Rachel

[Mark Wiseman]

Hi Rachel,
I applied no blur at all, only noise reduction and sharpening. I would normally remove the fly, but left for authenticity.
With many thanks,
Mark.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Awesome light and I love the dust and the action. More DOF would have been nice but the moment happens so quick...What can you do!

[Mark Wiseman]

Hi Dumay, thanks for your comments.
This is a repost with the fly removed. The sudden demarcation on the lhs that Rachel most likely refers to, is in my mind most likely due to the dust and it's depth??? That is the only reason I can think of at this stage.
Best wishes,
Mark

107478

[Robert Amoruso]

Well done capturing the action and the good body positioning. Only thing that could have been better would have been the rear lions chin not intersecting the front one's back.

With that camera, you could certainly go much higher ISO, thus smaller aperture, but would you have know you needed that DOF in advance.

[Mark Wiseman]

Hi Robert,
I actually had it on f8, but my thumb was too quick for the action and I overcorrected. As you so rightly mentioned, how did I know, but I only make a mistake once and it will not happen again. Robert O"Toole's setup worked otherwise perfectly.
With many thanks,
Mark.

[Pieter de Waal]

Hi Mark, like the action and mood created by the light and dust, composition is great. DOF has been commented on.

[Brendon Cremer]

Nit covered, otherwise a great image, lovely colour and light and particularly like the symmetry in the tails.

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Fantastic light and love the dust Mark. It's always difficult to get both sharp using long lenses. I like that both tails are raized.
Mark I am also dreaming about a trip to the bush, esp one to the Kalahari. Lovely shot Vivaldo:S3:

[Brendan Dozier]

Wonderful interaction captured, Mark, love the light, poses. Well done!

[Ken Watkins]

Lovely action, colour and symmetry, the slightly oof rear lion does not bothere me. I am no technical expert but doubt it would have been possible to get both in focus with your long lens

[Harshad Barve]

great moment here , liked the position of tails ,
TFS

[Morkel Erasmus]

Super light and interaction here. It does happen fast and is tough to get all the settings dead-on for these moments. I love that you framed them all-in.


doubt it would have been possible to get both in focus with your long lens

I do think it could be possible, all dependent on the actual focusing distance, stopping down the aperture and getting the settings right by chance. Actual physical DOF can be calculated using the online DOF calculator here: www.dofmaster.com (http://www.dofmaster.com)

I did a test...don't know what the focusing distance was (but can be gleaned from the EXIF) and how much of a crop this is...but if they were 50m away, for example, using f11 would have given Mark about 4.67m of "focus". Had he them focused perchance on the rump of the front-most lion (to account for front-focus and back-focus) he might have had a chance of getting the hind one a lot sharper if he had sacrificed ISO to maintain a suitable SS at this f-stop. :bg3: