Lion Splash

[Brendon Cremer]

On a recent safari earlier in the year to Duba Plains we were very fortunate to witness some of the great interactions between the Lions and Buffalo that Duba has become so well know for.

In this image and early one morning we saw a young lioness charges back through the water towards the buffalo as she sees a young calf lagging behind, unfortunately for her some of the herd bull spoiled her attempt and kept her at a safe distance away from the herd.

Duba Plains, Okavango Delta, Botswana

Camera

NIKON D3S

Lens

600mm F4 VR

Shutter Speed

1/320 secs

Aperture

f/5.6

ISO

720

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Brendon - Great action with fantastic sharpness and intensity on the lioness' face. Nice light and pov too. The only thing I wonder is if it is too much splash and room to the lhs as I find my eye drawn more to the splash than the lioness. Let's see what others say.

TFS,
Rachel

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Brendon, great action shot in good light. Really sharp for the SS. I see why you positioned the lion this way. A crop on the LHS would cut off the nice splash. I also feel wanting more room on the right hand side so that we can see more of the lion's eye. If you have oom on the RHS, I'd suggest to add room tree and take a wee bit off the LHS. Loi

[Bill Jobes]

Very nicely captured, Brendon.

I am impressed with the sharpness at 1/320 and find myself wondering about your support platform. Tripod? Monopod? Bean bag on a vehicle ?

I'm of the school who generally favors all the splash that's offered, so I like your crop. But there's really no hard rule on that, as we know. It comes down to personal taste and artistic prerogative image-by-image.

[Andrew Merwin]

Great action shot Brendon with an excellent POV. I like the splash as it shows movement to the right & demonstrates how fast & powerful lions are. If you have it, I think more space on the RHS for the lion to leap into would take the image up a notch. Beautiful light. The right leg & paw tucked to the lioness's chest is neat is a nice touch. TFS.

[Stan Cunningham]

This image is another one of your fantastic images Brenden, you are Morkel inspire me constantly. Like some of the others I would tend to crop off some of the left and possibly add to the right, but that's a personal taste. When I first started cropping out some of the splash made by brown bears it killed me but I finally realized the bear was more impressive than the splash. But again, that's a personal decision.

[Morkel Erasmus]

You know I love this one, bud!
Looking hard and long now, I think what draws people to the splash is the way it's catching that golden light and resulting in it being brighter than the lioness.
Still, doesn't really distract for me. Love the colours! Would suggest perhaps sharpen her head/face a smidge more as presented?

[Markus Jais]

Great action shot. I like the composition, the water splash, the pose of the Lioness and the pano format.

Markus

[Tom Graham]

I'm in the too much left side/ splash camp. And I agree with Morkel that the bright splash pulls the eye away from the lions head.
Do you have any with her splashing and coming directly towards you?

Tom

[Brendon Cremer]

Thanks very much all for your great comments and advice. I have added a RP above, i added a little to the right and cropped some off the left, also did some gardening of the reads that were in the bottom right corner. Also sharpened the face a little.

[Andrew Merwin]

Beautiful. Leaving most of the splash in & adding more space on the RHS takes it up a notch or 2. TFS.

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Brendon,

what a great action image. Love it very much. I agree with Morkel. I might would crop a bit of the LHS that more attention is pulled to the lioness.
That's just me.

Have a great eve

Ciao
Anette

[Steve Kaluski]

Well Brendon I love it and this is not an easy shot to pull off. Like the light and the splashes, it's an integral part to the scene and with this location. Normally big cats do not like water, except these ones stalking the buffalo's AKA 'The mobile litchen'. Crop for me is between the two, but would like more below.

Doing this on the laptop, so a little blind, but I would suggest adding some mid tone & selective sharpening certainly, not sure about pumping up the colour a tad more, WDYT?

Top marks in my book.

TFS
Steve

[Brendon Cremer]

Thanks very much all. I like very much Steve, Can see some more selective sharpening will help for sure, like the added midtones, did you use a lumo midtome mask? the extra bit of punch in the colours is also nice i may choose something in between the two. Thanks again.

[Steve Kaluski]

Brendon, I did write it with 'gritted teeth', would love to have captured something like this whilst out there very envious.

Sharpening is just with USM, mid tone was with one of my actions, the 'stauration' is a colour mix of my own I sometimes use just to bump things up, a little different to Sat/Vib, if it's helped great. Was this with 007?

[Brendon Cremer]

Ha ha You will have to come join me there next year Steve. Ok great will give it a bash and see what happens. No was driving with Spike, hes my man up there, always gets us into position when we need to be ;-)

[Steve Kaluski]

You will have to come join me there next year Steve.

You want some free tuition and see how a real camera works, Canon... but sadly Duba is not on the circuit. Keep them coming Brendon, there is always the following year, but that might be a biggie and I may go to another region?

[Brendon Cremer]

You want some free tuition and see how a real camera works, Canon...

Oh no that big white thing that scares all the animals away, dont worry i have a backup for you steve

Ok cool maybe next year, let me know when you are up next.

[Andre Pretorius]

Wow Brendon, stunning capture! Love the intensity in eyes. Would like to be a fly on the wall when you and Steve are on a Game Viewer! BTW what was your AF settings on the D3S?

[Shreyas Mantri]

Super shot! The crop doesn't bother at all but my first impression was to get some more warmth and depth in colors...and Mr. Kaluski's RP hit the spot with it!
Cheers for these precious sightings, and thanks for sharing!

[Gabriela Plesea]

Whew...I just got back from a relatively long trip and needed to reconnect with BPN...this image jumped at me...Oh Brendon, you make me green with jealousy My lions do jump but never touch the water...this is brilliant! I leave the techs to the experts, I just wish to congratulate you on taking this image and capturing the moment so well-well done my friend!

Warmest regards,

[edwardselfe]

Beautiful - as usual though Steve has just boosted it a little more. Certainly the added canvas on the rhs makes a difference but be careful with repeating patterns in the reeds.
Ed

[Carole Deschuymere]

Hi Brendon. I just love that shot. I thought the face of the lioness was a tad too brightened, I like it better in Steve's RP. But overall, fantastic shot, and amazing how it can be so sharp at that shutterspeed. Would not have dared it. again, so jealous of Duba Plains, but I can't really complain, I'm almost off to 2 weeks Mana Pools and 2 weeks Okavango Delta... just won't make it to Duba ;-)