Agony & Ecstasy! Mating Lions....

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Camera	Canon EOS 7D
Exposure	(1/640)
Aperture	f/6.3
Focal Length	135 mm
ISO Speed	100
Exposure Bias	0 EV

[Loi Nguyen]

Sanjeeve, wow, 135 mm!!! Great capture of an intimate moment of lions. Good sharpness. The light was a bit hash and the whites on the lioness looked blown to me. I'd try to recover the whites there. Loi

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Sanjeev - Good behavioral capture and their expressions are great. It does look like the light was a bit harsh. I applied a luminosity mask at 55% to tame the highlights a bit and I also cropped from the top and rhs. I don't think the area above the bushes adds anything. I think it would benefit from going back to the RAW to ensure that the whites aren't clipped and the blacks aren't choked. WDYT?

TFS,
Rachel

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

I went back to RAW Rachel and the image I posted was full frame with the 70-200 f/4 IS at 135mm. I could easily crop and I liked your crop to the level of bushes. It gives more impact and draws attention the mating lions. I will re work on it as suggested incl the luminosity mask.

[Morkel Erasmus]

I immediately thought of Rachel's crop when opening up this image .
Exposure seems well handled for the conditions, but would investigate the highlights as suggested. Always a treat seeing a mating pair!

[Marina Scarr]

Killer action & behavior. Ditto on the comp.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Sanjeev, I think this is one of your best from the trip.

I just feel the RP is a little tight and therefore retaining the full width does give the 'courting' couple room to breathe.