Hello folks ,
starting with a lion , what else , of my Kgalagadi trip with Andre and Gabriela , i had more lions when they left , next time i will go alone ........ just joking.
Sightings on this trip have been great for me , never seen that many species and that many in numbers in general . Sightings are one side , taking decent photographs the other ...
Many times the best stuff i saw , the conditions has been less ideal , like backlight or light getting really harsh quickly .I forgot about the fact that heat haze is my biggest enemy with long glass between 9 am and 4 pm , starting from a distance of about 15 m .The IQ sank rapidly , i couldn`t believe it .Well almost ten years ago that i had to think about this.
I also recognized the limitations for the 1Dx and the 1D MK IV in the heat , both bodies were struggling finding the focus on lions specially the females with their uniform colored coat .
But i shot even during mid day like **** , wonder when i will return to Africa next time . So i took too many images , a lot of crab , i knew before they would not work , but i was there to have fun and that is part of it to let the shutter turn into madness .
Image taken early afternoon on a very hot day at Melkvlei WH .
EOS 1D MK IV
EF 500 IS L
Window bracket
F 6,3 ; Iso 400 ; 1/1000 sec
Processed with DPP and PS CC ; slight crop and removed a branch from the tree .
Hope you like it an thanks for commenting to my previous post
Hi Andreas, for me I would have swopped to the 200-400 and got all of the lioness in, or popped the 1.4 and had a tighter, head shot with the licking tongue. Maybe moving a tad more to the left to have continuity of the BKG may have been better, but having the tree in is no deal breaker. Techs & detail look good and I like the fact the BKG is paler, it throws/projects the subject more.
Never found the 1DX searching or struggling to find focus in SA this year, this is where you have to adjust things within your settings to deal with the situation at the time, i.e. tracking a subject walking across your line of vision is totally different to walking towards you, but this was static so no issues here I think . Glad you had a good time.
Andreas, I am glad you had a good time! I like the colour palette here, nice tones, cool pose with tongue sticking out. I would crop just a bit tighter from below. Looking forward to more from you. Cheers.
Thanks Steve and Sanjeev for your comment , much appreciated .
There are some more options for cropping , but i wanted to avoid it .
Steve sitting in Nissan Double Cab is not as sitting on a open Landie or Toyota safari vehicle where you can easily swop cam /lens combo , having two big glass with cam and the steering wheel to handle is sometimes kind of tricky , and you will think will i again swop ? or do i stay with the combo that i am using now.
By then the situation with the tongue out is gone , so take the shots as they appear to your eyes , as you know this is not easy to plan , was sitting with these guys for something like two hours , they under a shady , me in a bakkie in fully sun with the windscreen to the sun ............. it was hot man . They have been lying there all day , i got there by noon ....and then the old lion game started , will they move for drinking before the sun goes low ? or will they just lay on their fat bellies and just move a little when they got hit by the sun to the next shady place under that tree .
They just moved a little !! I had to go early before the sun went down , cause i was about 50 km away from camp and had to drive back , these are things that you or others who stay in private GR are not struggling with .
BTW even in this situation when the subject was not moving the AF was struggling from time to time , no matter what AF settings i used , the hotter it became the worst became the AF ??????? It was ok when the subject was close , but when the subject was away i.e. 20m it was really a problem with pale things like lion or Gemsbok .
Hi Andreas, i appreciate there are numerous options for cropping, your call, just feedback.
I can also appreciate being 'in the moment' you have to make a judgement call on what kit to use and prior to that, position the vehicle, sometimes it works other times it doesn't, likewise the only difference you & I had was, a steering wheel, otherwise we had the same space. But I do think if you have the opportunity & time, planning and making some assumptions in what will or might happen does help. Lions are notorious sleepy, lazy buggers and so I assume you had the opportunity to move the vehicle and not stay in one place? I do agree, heat haze can be an issue with BKG as it creates a fuzziness sometimes, but very surprised to hear the issues you had.
Ja Andreas. I am battling to post this now with me giggling so much. I can just see you sitting there and probably nodding off too. Seen it from personal experience.
With regards to heat haze, I do not think any camera will cope unless you are within a reasonable distance away. I have to deal with this all the time here. Winter heat is a lot more forgiving when it comes to heat haze and not as bad.
Nice shot of a seal sorry lion! I too quite like the bg which shows the male quite well. Tongue adds something too. Not sure about the crop but I might get rid of the tree if it were mine. Look forward to more from the trip.
Thanks Carl for your comment much appreciated .I do not want to loose the tree because IQ will suffer ! So i live with the tree, but agree it would give a better BKG without it.
For illustration a screenshot taken in DPP of the issues with 1Dx or MK IV , this image taken with 1dx and 200-400 no edits made
AF was jumping forward and backward and did not grab a focus point from time to time , most evident on contrast less subject like this lioness !!!
It happened mostly with the non cross type sensor fields.
Hi Andreas - sounds like the heat was a real problem both from a comfort standpoint and from an equipment standpoint. I can't help you with the focusing issue, the only time I had a similar issue was when there was a lot of dust stirred up and the camera tried to focus on the dust.
Now, about the image. I too like the light bg and the tree as the border. The tongue out adds interest. If it were mine I might drop the reds slightly though you were there and I was not. I too would crop a bit from the bottom but keep the tree as the left edge. Techs look good.
Welcome Back Andreas. Sounds like you had a great time even if the photography was sometimes a little difficult. I like the subdued, almost monochrome color of the image. I also like the inclusion of the tree trunk. It provides a nice border on the edge.
Andreas, I just wonder if the contacts needed cleaning based on your description rather than anything else? If you are getting kit cleaned or Serviced after your trip, (would advise this) I would ask Canon. Did it lock then suddenly jump, might be worth posting this particular issue in Camera Gear.
Standing the heat of round about 45 C
, next time i will go alone ........ just joking.
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. Glad you had a good time.
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eek. 
