A mother's sorrow.

Have just returned from another amazing trip to Botswana where I captured this dramatic, sad and yet powerful image of a lioness carrying off her dead 3 week old cub that had been trampled by buffalo, during the attack the cubs sought shelter down a wharthog hole and she had been digging for over an hour in a vain attempt to rescue them, all the time pausing to hear and then call, sadly she lost all 3 of her litter on this fateful evening. :e3
She carried her tiny son for over a kilometre before placing it in a dense thicket and then consuming it in some bizarre ceremony ............just exactly why lionesses do this is still very much a point of conjecture.

Not an easy event to witness and document, there wasn't a dry eye in our vehicle that evening I can tell you.

Being @ f/2.8 & 12800 ISO, well after sunset and with light at an extreme premium and frankly if it weren't for pushing my 400/2.8 & D4s, capturing any sort of a reasonable quality image just wouldn't have been possible IMO.

Selinda, Botswana

D4s, Nikkor 400 f/2. E FL 1/250s f/2.8 ISO12800, bean bag from front pax seat, slight crop for comp, curves, levels adj, slight NR on BG only, PS CC '15 & ACR.

C & C most welcome

Cheers
Marc

Marc, you have captured a very moving scene! The sad look in the mothers eye, the cub in her jaws and the head on angle all add up to portray a powerful story. Modern tech has allowed us to create this kind of image which may have otherwise been not possible a few years ago. Well done my friend.

Thanks Sanjeev

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Originally Posted by Sanjeev Aurangabadkar

The sad look in the mothers eye, the cub in her jaws and the head on angle all add up to portray a powerful story.

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She had a trance like look for the whole time she carried her cub and not once did she turn or glance away..........it was very eerie, she was like a pallbearer at a military funeral.

A very tough scene to witness and now I too, see her tragedy. Very good image with so little light. Perfect placement of lioness in the frame, excellent angle of her and her baby, foreground & bkgd good with similar colors and no interference with the subject.

Hi Marc -- You have done exceedingly well to capture this dreadful moment in a lionesses life ! I like the framing and that look on the lionesses face but would have preferred a bit more space at the bottom . Also i would have reduced the brightness of the remaining scene except the main subjects to provide more punch .
TFS !

Tough enough to view the shot never mind seeing it in person - well done for getting such a good shot.

The raised paw is a nice touch, and I like Haseebs thoughts on a little more space below if you have it, but all told I don't think there's too much more you could have done given the light you were working in.

Mike

Thanks Haseeb & Mike

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Originally Posted by haseeb badar

Also i would have reduced the brightness of the remaining scene except the main subjects to provide more punch .
TFS !

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Good suggestion Haseeb, here's a RP (1/2 stop down on the BG)that better reflects the lighting cond's, although in reality it was very dark indeed.
No extra room below, as she approached one runs out of framing very quickly with a prime lens.

Hi Marc a sad story for the lioness and the pride ..... but that how it goes , life cycle in the wild .
Must have been great to witness this behavior and drama .

You caught her well on the move , i am ok wit the framing . Just think the image is a bit noisy overall , i might run NR ion this image .
You have been there , from your description i might think there should be more cooler tones in the image , as the lioness and the landscape are carrying a lot of red ..... but as always a matter of taste for suer .

TFS Andreas

Thanks Andreas

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Originally Posted by Andreas Liedmann

Hi Marc a sad story for the lioness and the pride ..... but that how it goes , life cycle in the wild .
Must have been great to witness this behavior and drama .

You caught her well on the move , i am ok wit the framing . Just think the image is a bit noisy overall , i might run NR ion this image .
You have been there , from your description i might think there should be more cooler tones in the image , as the lioness and the landscape are carrying a lot of red ..... but as always a matter of taste for suer .

TFS Andreas

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I've run NR selectively on the BG already and felt that was sufficient given that this is ISO12800 here :w3 , and the tones depicted are in keeping with the 38C temps at the time, true....all subjective of course.:bg3:

Botswana has really been feeling the effects of El Niño, it has been exceedingly hot & dry for some time now, even by Botswana's standards.

Hi Marc - I'm away so will leave the techs to others but a very poignant image and story.

TFS,
Rachel

Hello Marc,

And welcome back from your travels:)

I am glad you did all you could to capture this special moment, despite the low light. Very unusual scene, yet one of the less pleasant aspects of Nature. I have only seen lionesses carrying around live cubs, this is a first for me too. Great behavioural shot and I really appreciate the story behind the frame.

The framing/composition is spot-on, what a dramatic scene with the lioness entering the frame carrying this limp little body - a nervous Mom, she must have experienced tremendous stress and I keep thinking she consumed the cub by accident. Hard to put the pieces together...

In terms of PP work I think more can be done to improve this image, but this does not take away from the powerful meaning of the scene itself - truly unique and worth sharing, Marc - I thank you, been staring at this for a while, still looking for answers...

Kind regards,

Thanks Gabriela

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Originally Posted by Gabriela Plesea

I keep thinking she consumed the cub by accident. Hard to put the pieces together...,

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Unusual as it may seem Gabriela, this behaviour is not by accident and not that uncommon.

One theory on the consumption behavior is that it's better to consume the carcass than have other predators eat it and become used to the fact that lion cubs are available for food.
It can draw danger to the area where she still has other cubs surviving so there is an immediate need to remove it.

Thank you Marc, this explains it rather well. Makes sense to me.

Have a pleasant rest of the week-end,

A poignant and grim moment, mate.
Well captured given the conditions and available light...
That look on her face speaks volumes.
Did you apply NR only during RAW conversion?

Thanks Morkel.

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Originally Posted by Morkel Erasmus

Did you apply NR only during RAW conversion?

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Yes, one round only.

FWIW printing this @ A3+ shows little sign of noise, which to me is the benchmark of how one treats noise in PP, reviewing this again at this web presentation it does look worse than in print

so a RP here: