His Young Majesty is high minded within himself and full of confidence, his size already teaching some respect to the young jackals roaming around this morning's eland kill...his siblings always lend their assistance when it comes to chasing off unwanted predators (like brown hyena and the likes) with awed humility that amazes me: he is the largest, tallest young lion of the lot and his character is shaped to resist any form of competition...His name is Magangaan (Zulu for "Naughty One") and despite the brevity of our meetings in October 2012, he still is - in my mind- the cutest, bravest and baldest young lion I have ever known. He followed us and walked right through our camp and we had to make sure he stayed away from our make shift kitchen...Looking through this sequence of frames tonight I felt high enjoyment in reflecting that there hasn't been an instance when I did not derive some happiness from those images...
Here is Magangaan as he follows our vehicle from the water hole to the camp in pursuit of...probably the tyres...But he ate so much eland meat in the early hours of the morning that he could barely walk, his belly touching the ground from time to time...Looks like golden light but from an awkward angle, so I had to deal with some highlights here and there. Let me know what you think, I am always happy to improve
Hi Gabriela, a cute one fore sure. Judging from the shadow, the light was still a bit harsh, but you handked the exposure well. The shooting angle and the BG not ideal, but you din't have much choice here. I like the placement of the lion in the frame. Loi
Thank you Loi! Kind of you to look and comment, I was just thinking this morning "too many lions, I must now look for a brownie (brown hyena) or something new"...
Did not check what time this was taken but you are right in terms of light, I probably shot this after watching the lions feeding the whole morning so it must have been after 10 am anyway. Taken from the car window (yep, bad angle) as Magangaan was attempting a bite at the back wheel behind me...my take is, he liked the movement and probably "texture"of them rubber things, something I assure you his dad or mom would not do...I was high above him and would not have lowered my gear for anything in the world, the thought of having to describe the event for an insurance claim did occur to me at the time "well, I was aiming this lens at a lion when he decided to grab a piece of it" (LOL).
The car tracks are unfortunate, although they give a bit of context to my little story above, which is more like "human/animal interaction"...We did speed away from him and therefore I do not have other better images of this event - not fun losing a tyre in the Kalahari for the sake of one photograph. Magangaan and the clan did catch up with us and eventually they all walked through the camp at a slow pace, sniffling here and there as we sat in the car watching. We had to ensure the little ones did not get into our kitchen under the A-frame but enjoyed appreciating the size of Charlie-Ash as he walked past the table and whatever was on it without even giving it a glance: we knew he would not touch anything. There's something about those older proud males that just demands respect. They know human scent, they do not fear man for they have never been hunted. They are the hunters.
Magangaan tried to take the spade he found by the fire as a souvenir but it was too heavy to carry it around so he gave up...The next morning people camping nearby asked us to please let them know if we see a little red spade, it seemed to have miraculously disappeared...
A lovely lion, cute and bold for sure. I loved the story and can sense the thrill you all must have had. I like the framing and the 'human/animal interaction' depicting the reality of bush. Well done, TFS.
Hi Gabriela - What a great story! I guess lion cubs consider cars their own chew toys. I don't mind the tire/tyre tracks here as it adds to the feeling of him following you. You handled the uneven light well and I think the pov looks pretty good. I love the slinking along pose. PP looks great.
Hi Gabriela , great story about the youngster ,makes me hungry for more .
Normally i do not like tyre tracks in the image , but as context it works nice .
Very nice processed with good color/tone .
I never have problems with that off angled light , i actually like it more than the full frontal light, because it gives more room to play with shadow/light and you can achieve a more 3D effect in the image. Never understood the discussion about the off angled light !!!!!!!!!!
This is great and love that he is studying the tyre tracks. I would reduce the reds slightly as they seems to be a little too much in the ears and neck area.....
Ed
Hi Gabriela, I really like this, nice choice of format, like the posture & PP looks good, nice clarity & sharpness. Can't really comment too much on colour, but would trust Ed's comments.
Sorry about forgetting the techs, I wrote them on a piece of paper but forgot to add them, was too taken with the story...Thank you so much for feedback, much appreciated, and I think Ed is correct - looked at the original and the ears were not so orange will fix asap...