'Floppy' ear - Lioness

[Steve Kaluski]

Early one morning we came across this female and male who decided to just chillout in the early morning light and where we met Dumay who asked to come onto our property with one of his guests to photograph this pair. These two lions just typified what lions do best, sit and gaze. I deliberately wanted a tight portrait to emphasis that gaze/look to camera, the front leg bleeding off, out of frame isn't an issue for me.

Sorry Gabriela, not the image you may have thought .

Thanks for either viewing or commenting on the previous image.

Steve

Subject: Lioness (Panthera leo) lying and gazing in early morning light
Location: SA
Camera: Canon 1DX
Lens: 500f/4 HH
Exposure: 1/1000s at f/5.6 ISO400
Original format: Portrait, very slight crop from the top
Processed: LRCC & PS CC2015 (One or two OOF blades of grass removed in BKG)

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Steve - This looks spot on in terms of color and tones. This works for me on all counts.

TFS,
Rachel

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Steve!

Love it, what a surprise indeed

Mean looking lioness... I would go back to my tent pretty quick if I saw this girl lying around, giving me this look. She is beautiful, powerful and in great condition, mature and experienced. I would love to see her in action.

Perfect exposure and I love the tonality. I like your thinking in terms of framing, allowing the limb to "bleed off", thus adding more depth to the frame. Superb detail, even in the shadow areas.

The floppy ear gives a lot of character to this already stunning female. POV and HA add to this intimate, "in your face" portrait, the cherry on top IMO is the light/shade on the face - not extreme, just enough play to give this wonderful sense of depth:)

I enjoyed viewing, very much. Thank you for sharing

Warmest regards,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Steve , she is bit looking like the "Grumpy Cat" that is floating around the web .
Like Gabriela´s monkey i also get the idea ...... what is she thinking about you people in the car ?
Lovely low POV and a real in the face portrait .
Very nice controlled HL and SH under the given light situation , as always well processed and you have achieved very nice fine detail !!!

Lovely work Steve .

TFS Andreas

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Steve

Stunning detail and tones.
POV very effective, straight eye contact grabs the viewer.
The look in those glassy eyes are not friendly, not the one I would like to receive when on foot..
The floppy ear can be from an injury, fight, adds too the " i mean business " look-even the nostrils are slightly pulled back and opened.

The crop/comp works, with the right leg... what was your thinking behind it?

[Steve Kaluski]

The crop/comp works, with the right leg... what was your thinking behind it?

Just for the record Andre - it's FF on the width with a very slight crop at the top. I wanted that 'eye level' with the viewer, which I have always believed provides more linkage with the viewer. Therefore, with the diagonal angle of the front leg leading into the corner, to me it broke 'the frame' and virtually continued on, so no problem. The front right as viewed. just disappears into the vegetation and so, again for me, it's not a factor to worry about. The DoF was enough for the eyes to nose sharpness ratio and so the ears could afford to drift off.

Hope this helps.

Steve

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Lovely portrait Steve, I like the tones, colours, the comp and sharpness, Very nice indeed. The eye level angle takes this up a notch.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Steve -- Priceless look !! Just simply loved it . Terrific details and excellent PP work as usual . Can look this image for hours !!

All the thinking process that you have mentioned in your intro and comments , does this happen on the field or after looking at the image during PP , coz most of the time it is a split second opportunity on the field , hence the question ?

TFS !

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Steve, you have brought out the detail on the Lioness's coat so well. Love the soft light and colours, and the floppy ear with the direct eye contact takes this up a few more notches.

[Steve Kaluski]

Cheers folks, perhaps not as good looking as Axel Stu???

[Morkel Erasmus]

Colour, detail, exposure all look good Steve. She's got some character.
I'd crop some from the bottom, though?