The King

[Rachel Hollander]

A simple portrait of a large male Kalahari lion. Taken at Tswalu.

Canon 5D3
100-400 II @ 400mm
1/1500
f5.6
ISO 800
HH from safari vehicle, slight crop for comp, levels, curves, sharpened in PSCC.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[haseeb badar]

Hi Rachel -- Always good to see the Big male lions , the light looks slightly strong to me but you have handled it very nicely. Slightly strong on contrast for my liking but depicts the light well . Colours and details look very good. Comp works for me as presented , though i would have liked more at the bottom but appears as there might be grass blades blocking the view .

TFS !

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Rachel,

Stunning male lion, he reminds me of those Kalahari big boys with their black manes. You must have enjoyed this sighting tremendously!

I find the colours in this frame - especially the red and gold - very appealing, composition is pleasing and POV great. Love the vegetation surrounding the subject, those grasses in the FG add some depth.

A tad hot on the muzzle just underneath the nose, the light must have been quite harsh?
Nice detail and sharpness, overall a very well processed image, as expected - I would print this Rachel, if I were you

PS Did I tell you we have "imported" a number of those stunning big males from the Kalahari into our local Game Reserves? Cannot wait to see them, two of them are being released this week...

Warmest regards,

[keith mitchell]

Rachel a face full of charictor with lots of fine detail,even though they are killers they do have such soft beautiful eyes,looks like full sun on the face that you have handled very well,I'm ok with the natural look the grasses bring,lovely piece of work.

Keith.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel ... i do think he is looking like a real majesty
Lovely mane and the colors are stunning , i always love to see the red tones in soil and/or sand !!!!
Good overall tonality and stunning fine details in the subject .... i might think of burning the HL and 1/4 a tad , but separately at different opacity to give them a tiny bit more depth .
Ah yes not to forget those lovely eyes with the special color !!!!!
Overall a very cool frame .

TFS Andreas

[D. Robert Franz]

Not much to add other than it's a very good image of a magnificent animal..

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions. I'll take a look at the highlights.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nice portrait of this regal male, Rachel. Again, love those red sands around him...
Highlights also caught my eye. In an ideal world those LHS grasses in front would have obliged by kneeling down

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Morkel, Yes, but at least there were no grasses across the face.

[Steve Kaluski]

Pulling out so that you have all the Lion in with the environment may have been a better option, I just find the crop/framing a little awkward, just my take.

Agree on the HL, looks like you were on the cusp of the Histogram. Good detail and nice to see you going for more SS, it's the way to go now, but that is enough from me, as I've said it all throughout 2016 , a bit like ISO, slowly folks start to see.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Steve. Lots of unattractive scrub if I shot wider.