Slurp!

[Shreyas Mantri]

Hello all,
Trying to get back in action after a long absence
Here's another Lion (one of 3 brothers) from the Olifontbad waterhole (Etosha) who came down for a drink after a long siesta.
Shot at late evening light.

Canon 7D, 300mm II + 2x III; f/5.6, @ 1/640s, EC +2/3, ISO 160

C & C appreciated!

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Shreyas - welcome back. Beautiful light and especially the way it hits the eyes. Is this ff? It's a bit tight on top. I think you would have been better off moving the bottom of the frame to where the smooth water ends and having more room on top. This would also work very well as a portrait crop.

TFS,
Rachel

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Shreyas,

very nice image and light. I agree with Rachel on the move up a bit to the smooth water level. vertical would have been there my choice, but when in action...

Have a great day

Ciao
Anette

[Gregor Bergquist]

Nice one, love those eyes. This is one of my favorite scenes that you can see from time to time (lions drinking at some waterhole). On tech side I agree with Rachel.

TFS, Gregor

[Stan Cunningham]

The eyes are so strong that the crop does not bother me, but if you can add some up top it might help. Still a strong image.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the placement of the lion, and I like the amount of water at bottom...mainly because the blues down there add a neat touch of cooler colour to the rest of the warmer toned image. I agree the image is tight above though, and if you did have time to also go for some original verticals then that is a bonus. You are a brave one photographing wildlife at such low ISO (I always like to go for higher SS just in case of action...)

[Loi Nguyen]

Nice capture, love the intense stare. How much of a crop is this one? I'd expect to see more details on the face of the lion. You might also want to consider stopping down a little with the 2X. On my 500f4II, the IQ improves quite a bit when I stop down to about F10 vs. wide open at F8. Loi

[Shreyas Mantri]

Thanks all for the comments!

@ Rachel, have no room on the top, and have cropped from the bottom and the right, a total of 30 % taken off to get the face in ROTs

@ Daniel, funny you mentioned the low ISO. I was with these lions on 4 different occasions, and for this one sighting particularly, I was able to predict their movement and took my chances as the light was literally shining on their face. And at the same time, I've been unhappy with my 7D's results at higher ISOs so wanted to keep it as low as possible Here's another one from the series that I've posted in the past here: http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...705-Eye-to-Eye

@ Loi, thanks for your suggestion. This was a total of 30% crop.

Shreyas

[edwardselfe]

Nice - great low angle. Not much to add really as this is already a winner. Suggestions for other crops are useful I think.
Ed

[Morkel Erasmus]

Lovely light and typical Etosha setting here. I agree that it's a tad tight on top. Otherwise the tonal detail and depth looks good!

[Shreyas Mantri]

Lovely light and typical Etosha setting here. I agree that it's a tad tight on top. Otherwise the tonal detail and depth looks good!

Etosha in November would be amazing, Morkel...I can already imagine you capturing some distant thunders (hopefully) on the white pan! Excited for your trip!