The African Lion is listed as "Vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List. However, there is both good and bad news. The lion population is increasing in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. That's the good news. The bad news is that in most of the rest of its African range there is a big reduction in the lion population such that outside of those 4 countries, the lion likely would be classified as endangered. This lioness was photographed early one morning at Djuma in the Sabi Sand. The pride was mostly sleeping off the effects of a kudu bull kill but she was up and contact calling. We were unsure if she was calling still other pride members or cubs. Nothing showed up in the time we spent with her. While I would prefer the bush not to be intersecting the head, we were shooting through a hole in foliage in the fg so could not move much. I liked the eye contact here.
Canon 7D2
100-400 II @ 400mm
1/1600
f5.6
ISO 1600
HH from safari vehicle, ff, curves, color adjustments, sharpened in PSCC.
I've also done a b&w version that I will share at some point.
Nice one Rachel. Eye contact is really engaging -- you tend to be drawn in. Great light, IQ, colors. Twigs dont seems to be taking away from the image for me. Enjoyed.
Nice detail, eye contact, lighting and overall quality here Rachel, the green bush intersecting the head isn't ideal but understand your positioning restrictions here.
Hi Rachel it is all about the eye contact here , beautifully captured .
Good that you found the gap through the foliage , to make this possible. Color and tones working well and you have nice fine details in the subject , subject very nice separated from the BG .
Well done ..overall .
TFS Andreas
Very nice. The pose on the lion is just right for me. Like the open mouth with the hint of teeth. Details look good. Is that a tick or something on its hide right behind the shoulder?
The penetrating stare from this lioness is indeed engaging and her eyes mesmerising. I notice faint traces of blood on her face from the kill. Was she calling at the time you were shooting? It must have been such an awesome sighting!
Nice techs and good thinking on DoF, subject stands out beautifully against the BG. Well exposed and nice detail ( including nose and gums), colours look very natural.
A well processed and presented image I truly enjoyed viewing, thank you so much for sharing!
Very nicely done Rachel. I liked the fact that you managed to find a position to capture the lioness in the open. FG is not a problem for me. Nice colours and details and the eye contact is wonderful. That plant behind its head is not ideal IMO but still a fine image.
Thank you , John, Gabriela, Haseeb, Andrew and Basil, much appreciated. I'm glad everyone seems to like this one. John - That's a small wound though they certainly do have ticks too.
Lioness
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