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Thread: The Kalahari King

  1. #1
    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Default The Kalahari King

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    I felt like joining Peter and Gabriela in posting a lion portrait.
    This remains the most awesome wild male lion I had ever seen...photographed this November past in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (Kalahari desert).
    He was walking down the Nossob riverbed, roaring and scent-marking...at one point right next to our vehicle with open windows - what an experience!


    Techs:
    Nikon D3s
    Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
    1.4x teleconverter
    f11 | 1/1000 SS | ISO-640
    Full Frame vertical image - so I didn't crop to cut the body. I used the telephoto to get more detail on the face and composed like this to that effect.
    Morkel Erasmus

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    excellent Composition and pose.very nice light.

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Morkel - portrait was certainly the way to go here. Beautiful light and the dof works great. I might consider dropping the reds just slightly. I may be crazy but does it need just the slightest amount of ccw rotation?

    TFS,
    Rachel

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  6. #4
    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    What a great sighting in beautiful light, Morkel! I cannot find fault with this image,the subject is sharp and well exposed against that soft BG, love the dust, the red in the lion's mane -he must have had a copious meal...This makes me think of a couple of lion images I have-also full frame, vertical-which remain unprocessed up to this day because each time I want to work on them I am not sure about the crop and how much of the lion's body should I leave in the picture. You have done the right thing by not cropping too much - this lion's impressive mane is his best feature,and it is what makes this image so attractive to me.

    Kind regards

    Gabriela

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    Forum Participant edwardselfe's Avatar
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    Stunning - just what I was saying in a previous post about getting excellent contrast without too much black. Wouldn't change a thing.
    That is an astonishing mane! Never seen anything like it in Zambia.
    Ed

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  10. #6
    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Very powerful Morkel.
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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    BPN Member Anette Mossbacher's Avatar
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    Super as usual Morkel

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    Very powerful image with the intense yellow eye and raised foot. The composition of just the front part of the lion adds to the power. Beautiful lighting & details on the awesome mane.

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    The stare into the distance with a trail of dust and the sharp perfect detail of the mane makes this a very good picture.

    HIran

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    Very nice morkel, great detail and well exposed in some nice light, especially like the hint of blood in his mane.

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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Terrific image Morkel, difficult to know exactly where to have the body cut in a portrait but I think this is as good as any. I really like this image, I wonder did you have any landscape mode images it's my bet they would be equally impressive.

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    BPN Member dankearl's Avatar
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    I Like this a lot Morkel.
    The reddish fur looks nice to me.
    I would lighten the left eye a bit, there is some color and light there, I would maximize it.
    Dan Kearl

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    BPN Viewer Steve Canuel's Avatar
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    This is a good one Morkel. The look, raised paw, and colors in the mane make it a winner.

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  26. #14
    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Thank you all so much
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Beautiful everything here, Morkel! What an impressive specimen!

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