Environmental Lion portrait

[Hilary Hann]

I haven't had anything new to post for a while and prepared this before I realised that Marc was putting up a lion, so sorry about having 2 lions so close together, hope nobody minds.

One of two lions (no names! :S3: ) we came across soon after descending into the caldera.
Ngorongoro Crater

7D; EF300 f4 IS + 1.4; f9; 1/200; ISO400

[Marc Mol]

Beautiful clean BG, pose and lighting here Hilary.

[Mark Wiseman]

Hi Hilary,
I like your composition and the lovely background. The light looks nice and soft and there is good detail. Well done.
Thanks for sharing and best wishes,
Mark.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hilary - welcome back. This is very majestic with the pose, good light and the vast bg dropping off. Nicely seen and captured. Looking forward to more from your trip.

TFS,
Rachel

[Pieter de Waal]

Hi Hilary, another magnificent animal looking so regal in his environment. Nice light and BG.TFS.

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Hilary
Nothing to critique for me, the way that diagonal line in the background hills frames the lion really adds to the shot. Super work here, nicely done!
We can never have too many lions!
Cheers
Grant

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Hi Hilary
Superbly taken, love the space and BG in this image. I know how it feels, also haven't had much to post recenlty.:w3

[Morkel Erasmus]

What a cracker to show your new "stock", Hilary! Love the depth with the crater wall behind him, nice light and a good regal pose. Best IQ I've seen from you lately! :cheers:

PS: Why f9?

[dankearl]

Beautiful light, Hilary.
I really like these kind of photos, it captures the Africa I imagine.
Excellent.

[Hilary Hann]

PS: Why f9?

Morkel, it is the sum of changing from the earlier shots of the lions interacting at ISO800 at various settings and quickly changing down to ISO400 to get some better noise (I'm now very circumspect of my 7D's high ISO capability, despite what anyone may say) and making some pretty quick manual adjustments. f9 is just a reasonable mid point amongst lots of other changes I made so no great cerebral reasoning behind it! :w3 Perhaps in hindsight I could have dropped the f stop and increased the ss, but long ago I decided not to sweat the small stuff and became grateful that the lion appeared in good light, stood in a nice spot and as good as smiled for the photographer. :S3: For those fortunate enough to spend many hours in the bush each year, that excuse would be a poor one. But for those of us who travel for long times on boring flights for a mere week or so in the bush, sometimes near enough just has to suffice.

[v.p.nurdeen]

Hi Hilary,
beautiful image showing the habitat in the background.
VPN

[Brendon Cremer]

Lovely image very well captured in the best kind of light.

[Russell Johnson]

Not much to say....well processed and great capture.

I would possibly darken the background more just to make it all pop (even more)

[Steve Canuel]

Very nice Hilary. A majestic setting for the "king of the beasts."

[Harshad Barve]

This is one your best Hilary , terrific image
TFS