Lion Profile Close Up

[Rachel Hollander]

Another experiment and marmite type image. Taken in South Luangwa N. P., Zambia. This is one of the members of the Hollywood Pride so named because they are generally reliable to find and film crews love filming them. They lived up to their name allowing us to get close and posing rather than being flat cats. This was composed in the field as a tight shot of the eye and nose area. I then cropped a little tighter in post from all sides. I wanted to keep a bit of ear in and also the added texture from the fur framing the face.

Canon 7D2
300 II plus 2x III
1/1600
f6.3
ISO 800
Monopod from safari vehicle, about 80% of ff, levels, curves, TK luminosity masks, color adjustments, sharpened in PSCC.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Glenn Pure]

I like this one Rachel in terms of composition. I think it strikes a nice balance. If it was mine, I'd certainly be trying a range of different options and I'm sure you have probably done that to arrive here. As I say, I think this works compositionally as presented, including the space on the right to 'look into'. Colour is harder to judge on this one. It does look a little odd to me in that it is quite yellowish to my eye. But maybe that's how this lion looked. Similarly for the tones on the lion which look thinner than I'd expect. But again, it may be the animal looked this way. Regardless, I'd be inclined to add a bit more density to the higher and mid tones and make the overall balance a little more neutral. Cameras don't lie about the scene they record but our vision is quite good at deception so I feel this could still remain true with some further colour and tone tweaks as suggested - if you felt inclined to go that way.

[Abhijit Deshpande]

Hi Rachel,
Nice image. Compositionally i would ve included the lower jaw. Makes this more complete.My two cents.
I like the details in the fur.
TFS
Regards
Abhijit

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel haven´t you posted a very similar one ? Not long ago ....well does not matter .
I do like the strong side profile with the subject standing out very nicely from the super bokeh BG , you have very fine detail and great detail in the shadow areas .
I am 50/50 on the crop , first impression was that you should get rid of the ear .....but now i think it anchors the image somehow .....but still not on the 100 % in this case , will still think about it.
Sharpness , DOF and color / tone looking nice.
Fine work , Rachel.

TFS Andreas

[John Mack]

This is a very nice tight and graphic shot. Great detail with a good background as well.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Wonderful details Rachel but I am not very imaginative - sorry don't like the crop. I would like to have seen the ear and the mouth (yes I know - I've got no soul!)

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Glenn, Abjihit, Andreas, John and Jon, much appreciated. Andreas, good memory, I posted an image about a year ago that included the mouth area. Just slightly different comps in the field.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, the side profile works, but not the crop for me, I want to see the whole side. I also would have liked a bit of life in the eye and some more DoF, as the ear has detail, but the eye lacks the fine detail for me and the eye is the key factor in a shot like this, it just appears 'cloudy'. The very neutral backdrop just separates the image nicely.

TFS
Steve

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dearest Rachel,

Is "marmite" this month's Theme? Just kidding...On a serious note, what I like most about this frame is the detail (love those whiskers and fine hairs) as well as that impeccable smooth background. Colour is very natural, tonality great, very nice PP work my friend.

From a compositional POV I am not so sure it works 100% for me. I am left with this desire to see the muzzle of this beautiful young lion and it is not there. The eye is meant to be the focal point of this frame but unfortunately the pupil is barely visible. I do like those long lashes a lot!

An interesting experiment dear Rachel and I thank you so much for sharing. I spent the whole evening trying to figure out how I feel about this frame and I admit I am intrigued by it. I do think it is beautifully processed, but for some reason it does not inspire me as much as I hoped/ thought it would. Perhaps this is because I am looking for some sort of mystery to emerge from the eye of the lion, something immediate, a plot, a story, an intention I have to decode. Or maybe I am just being difficult and nitpicking, so let me think about this some more? The other day I looked at the number of images I shared since I joined BPN and to my shame I must admit there are not many. I do experiment a lot but often decide not to share because I am not 100% happy with the outcome. Maybe I am just afraid of negative criticism...

Hope you have a wonderful evening, my warmest regards to you and once again many thanks for sharing,