Looking through some old files from 2007 - a slightly different perspective of a pride male.
Spent a bit of time dodging and burning to get a better tonal separation, something previously struggled to achieve. Also ran a warming filter on the darks.
Hi Russell, firstly congrats on your new 'arrival', hope all is going well at home, no more time I guess for Photography, presume things are little full on at present?
Love your thinking on this, great vision and certainly not what we normally see here, similar to Mr Delaney's posting, very refreshing from my POV, excellent work. The comp works well, nice use of space and the use of subject(s) within frame. Although OOF, my eyes do get drawn to the lioness, nothing you can do I don't think? Tonally I think you can push it a bit more, with more richness in the male, WDYT?
Welcome back, hope to see more from you.
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Hi Tom, be great if you can expand on this with some points why you have reservations, although you also find it interesting too. It' easy to say I like it, or not like it, but for the owner it's not really helpful without qualifying the comment. I'm just trying/wanting people who add feedback to give some rational to their comments so we can learn from the thoughts of others as this is a 'critique' forum.
I am sure you can appreciate this, it just builds for a better understanding IMHO.
Thanks
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
"Hi Tom, be great if you can expand on this with some points why you have reservations"
Sure and I'll try better next time.
When the image came up I was immediately drawn to the lioness. Then I saw something in the right lower corner and had to think about what it was. Maybe if the lion head were larger in the frame it would not have confused me? And think I'd prefer the lioness sharp and the lion OOF..
And I hope members members with such brief comments read your post to me, with recent comments such as -
"fantastic image and Peter's repost has managed to take it up a notch."
"Nothing to add than has already been mentioned, great capture."
And all those others that say only - "repost takes it up notch"
Hi Tom, I very much appreciate your reply and it holds a lot of merit.
And I hope members members with such brief comments read your post to me, with recent comments such as -
"fantastic image and Peter's repost has managed to take it up a notch."
"Nothing to add than has already been mentioned, great capture."
And all those others that say only - "repost takes it up notch"
Tom
Tom I can only agree and this also echoes one of James sentences, 'help us to help you', IMHO threads are only as good as their comments/feedback and this is why it is crucial that in posting a reply people can expand on their rational, thoughts & observations, as it's absolutely key. In reading the reply we can ALL understand the thought process behind the comments and hopefully learn from it, or see a different perspective we had not thought of.
Thank you Tom, and please add more thoughts to the images posted, the more the merrier and the better the thread becomes with a range independent views.
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Russel - as to your image - I love using OOF animals in the BG for context and story.
I do like what you did here, though I feel it would have worked better for me personally if there was a hint "more" of the male to anchor/base the image. Hope it makes sense?
I like Steve's darker, richer RP but would lighten the male up a bit more - somewhere between the 2 versions for me.
I think this is a unique image. We know from the OOF lioness and the skin, texture, hair that the focus is a male lion. But I left wondering what the photographer try to show here on the male lion? Is it the skin which is the dominant part? IMO the male lion needs a key feature to draw attention from the viewer. Loi
Thanks for all the comments. It was more an image I composed on the spur of the moment rather than really though through. In hindsight, I wish it were taking in the green season, to remove that dry season barren look.
Agree that more of the male, or perhaps a turn of the head (more eye visible) could enhance the image - I have sat on this image for years not sure if it fully works....
@Steve - thanks for the re-post. Will have a play when I get some time this week. Agree with Morkel that I will probably find an edit somewhere inbetween. Sadly not a lot photography planned, as I am also in the process of a complete career change in addition to our new arrival. I am planning for a safari in 2015/16, though I do have Stodmarsh Nature reserve and Sandwich flats on my doorstep that I may start visiting. I have a little nest egg from selling my old kit ready for a 1Dx and 200-400....
Thanks for all the comments. It was more an image I composed on the spur of the moment rather than really though through. In hindsight, I wish it were taking in the green season, to remove that dry season barren look.
Agree that more of the male, or perhaps a turn of the head (more eye visible) could enhance the image - I have sat on this image for years not sure if it fully works....
@Steve - thanks for the re-post. Will have a play when I get some time this week. Agree with Morkel that I will probably find an edit somewhere inbetween. Sadly not a lot photography planned, as I also in the process of a complete career change in addition to our new arrival. I am planning for a safari in 2015/16......Though I do have Stodmarsh NR and Sandwich Flats on my doorstep in the interim.
These shots can be the ultimate 'killer' image, plus it also illustrates diversity in the approach to thinking OOTB. Please Russell, do NOT hold fire in posting more images like this.
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Agree with Steve on the above.
I too need to explore a bit more with unconventional compositions in the field so this has at least stirred that in me as well.
Congrats on your new arrival, Russel! Don't stop now, we got 2 of them 18 months apart
I am always grateful to see images that explore very different angles and points of view. It gets me thinking real hard about the particular image posted and expands my thoughts when I go to capture an image.
For this image, I would like to see more of the male lion in the corner. The pose of the OOF female is awesome.
Well, just simply add me to the above for appreciating exploration of image composition. It can many times be very refreshing after several YALPs. (Yet Another Lion Portrait).
Tom
Yes, love the thinking here as there are so many 'lion shots' that it's fun to see something different. You hit the nail on the head when you said that you need a bit more 'eye'. Just a hint more of the big male's eye and you'd have a winner. Need's a bit more colour saturation too, but I know how hard that can be to get in the late dry season in Luangwa. It's upon us now, and the dust is getting into everything.
Best wishes from Luangwa.
Ed
Luangwa Lions
no more time I guess for Photography, presume things are little full on at present?
Morkel Erasmus thanked for this post
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