The need to feed.

[Marc Mol]

Have recently returned from an amazing trip to Ndutu, Serengeti & Ruaha NP's- Tanzania, but have also have been quite busy with a few other assignments, so my apologies if postings are a little delayed.

We watched this female for over an hour as she lay in waiting at the top of a waterhole with just her ears & nose barely visible, in a split second she raced down and grabbed this hapless Zebra foal in the blink of an eye,
I captured many frames of this action sequence of which a greater portion were clouded by the plumes of dust that both she and the rest of the zebra herd kicked up in the melee.
The young foal was mercifully killed quickly with the lioness snapping it's neck within seconds.
This mother had young cubs to feed.

Serengeti - Tanzania.

D3s 80-400 AF-S f/6.3 1/1250s ISO400@ 380mm.

All C&C most welcome.

Cheers


Marc

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Marc, saw this image on FB, good comp, exposure, light. She posed for you on top of the ridge here with good head angle and eye contact. Once cannot help but feel sorry for the poor foal though. The lion looks a little bit too contrasty to me and may be a touch of too much Red, but let's wait for the others to weigh in. TFS. Loi

[Nancy Bell]

Well captured! Great POV looking up at her & excellent angle to both her head and the zebra head showing all the eyes, and not having that zebra ear obscuring the lion's eye. I like the strong compositional diagonal from the eye of the lioness down the ear of the zebra, to the eye and down to the open mouth; the diagonal also repeated in the angle of the young zebra's body. The mass of flies adds another dose of reality in the bush; cubs to feed and flies that pester. The plain blue sky provides a very good bkgd that highlights the pose. Is the ear of a young zebra tawny as this appears to be?

[Marc Mol]

Appreciate the comments Loi & Nancy.

Is the ear of a young zebra tawny as this appears to be?

Most definitely Nancy, a lot of foals within a few weeks of age take on a distinctive brown/tawny shading most evident in the whites.

[Don Railton]

This is a very powerful image Marc on the realities of life... and very well executed. I like the fact that you can see both heads, (the winner and the looser) the flies, and the fact that you told me the Zebra was dead in seconds... I think you could afford to take a little off the top and left without loosing the context of the event.

DON

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Marc - Welcome back! Very dramatic image to start. I too like the pov and the HAs of both the lion and zebra. Sharpness and dof look good too. I see what Loi is talking about and if it was mine, I would open up the midtones slightly, and reduce the reds and yellows. The changes will be subtle but I think worth it. Looking forward to seeing more from your trip.

TFS,
Rachel

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Marc

Image well captured and well worth the wait!

Agree with colour and sat on lioness, Don has an interesting point with crop.

She had big belly-index, still killed- must have very hungry cubs!

Andre

[Gabriela Plesea]

Welcome back Marc,

Exceptional moment captured and I love the point of view, adds to the drama. I like that space for the lioness to look into. Hunter and hunted stand out so well against that blue, innocent sky. I tried nit-picking and it is difficult really, image so well taken and processed, that captivating stare from the lioness, the intensity of the chase and kill still there, versus the dull and barely lifeless body of its victim. I am dreaming of travelling to the Serengeti one day, it is images like this that feed my hopes

Kind regards,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Welcome back Marc, hope you had great and fruitful time and share it with us , with pics from this trip.
Good starter to show how tough life can be for a little Zebra.
Comp works nice , likewise overall tones . Colors overall look a bit flat and not clear , WB? I feel it is bit green/yellow dominated. Maybe just me.Just missing some clarity.

TFS Andreas

[Thinus Schoeman]

Hi Marc, I so which this was my image, I love it. I agree with the contrast on the lioness which is may be a tad overdone. I would just have loved a little bit more space on the right of the lioness, but that down to my personal preference.
Well done on a super image.
Thinus

[Steve Kaluski]

Nice capture Marc & the surrounding flies adds to the overall scene.

The image does look like it's carrying quite a bite of yellow, balancing out the Blue, Yellow & Red gives a better balance, just sample the whites and you will see the direction you need to go.

TFS
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

Cracking moment of natural history here, mate! Love her expression and the POV with the sky behind. Steve's got a point - I do find myself longing for a bluer sky and a little less yellow overall. It's a slight tweak though...
Do you have any more space on the RHS?
Looking forward to more as you find time to post!