Lioness

[Rachel Hollander]

I'll start us off for May's Predator Theme. Another one of one of the lionesses of the Hollywood Pride taken in South Luangwa, N.P., Zambia in August. Here she strolled in the late afternoon light. I had to be careful of the shooting angle because she is actually collared. Fortunately, from this angle it did not show.

Canon 5D3
300 f2.8 II
1/1000
f5.6
ISO 800
Monopod from safari vehicle, slight crop for comp, levels, curves, sharpened in PSCC.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Mike Poole]

Good light on the Lioness, and the walking pose is nice. Is it worth maybe lifting the shadows on the face a touch?

I've never been on safari - how much input do you have regarding getting the vehicles into the best places for light, backgrounds, etc?

Mike

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Mike, I'll take a look at the shadows. Most rangers know a bit about photography, light and angles so they are already trying to put you in the best position. (Many know are excellent photographers.) You have more control if you hire a private vehicle. If not, it can depend on whether others in the vehicle are also photographers. Of course, terrain can also play a part in where the vehicle can be safely positioned. Finally, the wildlife isn't always cooperative - they'll move to the shade, turn away from the light, sit in dense brush, etc. Often you may be shooting one animal at a proper light angle, pov, etc and then another animal approaches. That's what happened here. I was positioned to shoot another pride member when this lioness approached.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[haseeb badar]

Hi Rachel -- nice and simple image , though the angle is not ideal but understand why you had to opt for a higher pov . I too feel the shadow on its face can be opened a bit more. I also find its hind legs quite white , something which i have not noticed in lions . But all in all this image is not grabbing me that much , sorry .

TFS !

[Mike Poole]

Thanks Mike, I'll take a look at the shadows. Most rangers know a bit about photography, light and angles so they are already trying to put you in the best position. (Many know are excellent photographers.) You have more control if you hire a private vehicle. If not, it can depend on whether others in the vehicle are also photographers. Of course, terrain can also play a part in where the vehicle can be safely positioned. Finally, the wildlife isn't always cooperative - they'll move to the shade, turn away from the light, sit in dense brush, etc. Often you may be shooting one animal at a proper light angle, pov, etc and then another animal approaches. That's what happened here. I was positioned to shoot another pride member when this lioness approached.

Thanks again,
Rachel

Thanks for all that - interesting as like I say, I've never been. One day...

Mike

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Rachel,

Viewing this frame I felt extremely pleased for you, as it is never easy to get a lioness in the open...Just yesterday I was observing a pair of lions mating and waited about an hour for them to move to a better spot. At first they were in the middle of the road and that meant tyre tracks all over, later they moved under a nearby tree in the shade so I just put my camera down and watched...

Back to your lioness, I think she is a stunning girl and I love her white socks! Colours are great and you have managed to emphasise her muscle tone and that beautiful strong body, nice bit of eye contact there, the light comes from the side so I would personally not lift the shadows any further on the face as it might look odd? I might look at lifting the whites on her chin and muzzle, maybe chest area too, but only because the "socks" are a tad bright and draw attention a bit from her face.

Composition works for me. I like the raised paw and that bit of dust, nice detail too, don't know how you managed to hide that collar so very well done Rachel, great work in the field! Some lions around here have such big collars it would be impossible to conceal, I think:)

All in all a pleasing image I really enjoyed viewing, and what a great start to Predators month - thank you so much for sharing!

Warmest regards,

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Haseeb and Gabriela, much appreciated. Gabriela - some of the lionesses in this pride were the darkest lionesses I have ever seen. Not much white actually on their chin or chests. This lioness then gave us a look that sent chills to the spine as she walked along the side of the vehicle at a distance of two or three feet. It was such an intense look that I had to put the camera down for a second and experience it eye to eye. She definitely looked at the eyes of each individual in the vehicle as she walked by us (ranger plus 3 of us each with a row). We all shivered.

Mike - you should plan a safari, you'll love it.

[Stuart Philpott]

Rachel, I find it astounding that you managed to hide the collar,utterly astounding well done you!!

Nice simple clean lioness frame Rachel, all your trademarks of cracking detail,love those white socks, new to me they are. I didn't realise there were lions with white markings. There are white lions I believe,is there some form of pied mutation operating here?

Rachel I think you have done incredibly well here,I find situations like this ,different subjects for sure,but like this : grass pretty much filling the frame an incredible challenge. It's so hard to make this type of image special in some way. I think that is why this doesn't appeal to me quite as much as most of the work I've seen from you. You also have the confines of POV here not even mentioning collars,it's not like you can get down low to tap into all the options that gives one. As I say the execution is incredible for me but this one doesn't really blow me away like so much of what you do very much does. Interesting for me this one,it's certainly made me ponder Rachel, that's no bad thing .

cheers for sharing

stu

[Marc Mol]

As other have stated here Rachel, full praise for managing her without collar, can tell right away the location here of the "golf course" wafwa that enables such an open view, certainly not an image that grabbed my attention too much, but tells a story nonetheless.

TFS

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Stu and Marc. Marc - I didn't realize they call it the golf course but makes sense, given the short grass, undulating terrain and the sand traps.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[keith mitchell]

Rachel have looked hard and cannot see anything of the collar,I do like the soft light which gives a nice texture to the fur,it's interesting at F5.6 the whole animal is in focus,just something I am trying to get my head around at present.

Keith.