Young Rooiputs Terrorist

[Gabriela Plesea]

This might not be my best image but I am sure any one who has been to the Botswana side of the Kalahari knows what it is like to have one's camp "invaded" by these young terrorists...they chew everything, from stove pipes to solar panel cables...they steal your spades and also your toilet paper This youngster followed our vehicle into the camp, accompanied by his siblings and also mom and dad. Dad Charlie rested on a heap of sand and yawned, mom did not pay attention to either us or her offspring, but the youngsters had great fun sniffling around our appliances...This image portrays one of the naughty young males who followed our vehicle into the camp site with great interest...we eventually had to gently tell them off...they are curious, playful, so enjoyable to watch but so naughty!

Nikon D3S
Nikon 500 F4
1/1200s
F6.3
ISO 800

Kind regards,

[Loi Nguyen]

Gabriela, lovely pose in great light. I love the details and sharpness of the head, head angle, and the eye. I found it difficult to get their eye sparkled like you have here. Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, yes they are curious & playful, but always kept at arms length so to speak. Based on the techs and that this is NOT a huge crop, then the 'clarity/sharpness' should be there, so perhaps a little camera movement? I think you could have dropped the ISO a fraction, but really there is not much difference between 400 & 800 ISO. BTW how did Andre get on with that side of things, drop me a line. Roads at times are unavoidable and some people get hung up about it, in this instance I don't mind it, however I would have liked more image below for the sibling to walk into. As presented I like the overall colour & tones but personally feel there is too much space to the LHS. Taking a crop of 900 x 637 working from the RHS and total hight, the crop to me then looks good, but personal choice.

TFS
Steve

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Gabriela,

very nice light you have got for this one.
Somehow I have to agree with Steve with sharpness. Saw it already yesterday, but had not the time to write. Noah's arc was waiting!
That must be fun having them following you into camp. Would love to see that once. Only had lions passing my tent at night. Did not see them at all, only the tracks.

Have a great weekend

Ciao
Anette

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Gabriela - great story and I also agree with Steve about clarity and the space around. I keep looking at how big his paws are, they're huge!

TFS,
Rachel

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much for critique and comments, here's a RP with a tighter crop (I think Steve was right...again! )

As for sharpness-I do not know, I did take this image while holding the camera (and lens attached) in hand, all in all some 5 kg or so, do not think I had the VR on at the time. Had no chance to put the camera on its support by the car window...We drove past this "little" guy, he was lying on the sand and suddenly stood up and followed us...I also took a video of this event, just seconds after this photograph was taken A dear friend-Patrick Janse van Rensburg - was so kind to do a little 15 minute film which includes this scene (shorter version soon on UTube, will give you the link once it is ready...) I resharpened but it doesn't look that good ( I think) , here's the RP...

Warmest regards and wishing you all a great Sunday,

[dankearl]

For me, something between the OP and the repost as far as comp goes.
The light is really nice, the repost feels a bit tight.

[John Ippolito]

Gabriela, great story on the interactions with the pride at your camp.

With regard to the image: I really like it as presented. The crop is certainly not everyone's taste, but here I think the unorthodox works. The long shadows, expression/pose, lovely light, great BG, overall color pallette - and the sand looks like a delicious, cool morning in the Kalahari. Sharpness noted. It has a painted look to it. TFS

[Brendon Cremer]

Lovely image Gabriela, i prefer the crop in your RP. Nice colours and dappled light well handled. I would possible just drop the contrast a little and selectively drop the highlights on his left hand side cheek.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you all for your comments and advice, looking at the two images I tend to agree that this lion 'likes' a tighter crop, I just think I lost a lot of IQ by doing so. And thank you Brendon, I will follow your advice...(eish, I am absolutely smitten with that last lioness of yours)

Kind regards,