Young cub on termite mound

[Steve Kaluski]

One of the young cubs I had the pleasure of spending time with in Botswana. A great vantage point to look down at his brothers & sisters playing, but also he learnt how to defend his location as other cubs tried to steal his vantage point from him. Taken with the 1DX MKII straight off the production line when launched, it still needed tweaking in the AFMA department and so focus could have been a fraction better, however doing things in the field is less than ideal, but all resolved on my return.

Thanks to those who posted or viewed on the last posting.

Steve

Subject: Lion cub (Panthera leo) on termite mound
Location: Botswana
Camera: Canon 1DX MKII
Lens: 200-400f/4 HH
Exposure: 1/1600s at f/5.6 ISO800
Original format: Landscape, very slight crop at the top, almost FF width
Processed via: LRCC Classic & PSCC2019

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Steve,

Cute little fellow and judging by the expression on his face he is rather naughty! Love the pose and framing is superb, really cool BG

Glad the focus issue has been resolved. Here the subject is reasonably sharp with good detail, frame is well exposed and DoF works well, colours look natural. Wonderful image design and no distracting elements whatsoever - an ideal situation

I have often seen cheetahs on termite mounds but never a lion...Unusual and very special image Steve, a pleasure to view - thank you so much for sharing!

Warmest regards,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Steve cool capture ...well composed , shame that the tail is hidden behind the mount . Love the right paw holding onto the mount and the look to the RHS .
IQ as good as always with loads of fine detail ...
Asking myself if i would have toned down the blues in the shadow areas ....always tricky how much to keep of them . Other thing is always the sky .... with this angle of shooting , on one hand i would go darker and give some more color depth . ON the other hand it does look natural that pale and colourless look .
All around it does look ...quite good . Nice work and you got lucky to have the chap on the mount .

TFS Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Thank you Gabriela

Asking myself if i would have toned down the blues in the shadow areas ....

Hi Andreas, the blues were addressed mainly in raw, and in part, the file needed to be 'double processed', as there was a lot of fringing around the fur where it meets the sky, just one of those annoying things. Forget Defringing, RGB Curves, etc..., nothing touched it, so just went with the optimum .

Hope that may shed some light on your feedback, thanks.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Steve ...yes it did help, but not fully . Just leave it ....to your thinking as you seem to be happy with the result. I was also asking , as I am myself thinking about my own images how much of blue to keep in the shadows . So it was a question for both of us , matter of taste at times .

BTW i do agree with the fringing under these circumstances and always tricky to handle , and if one looks closer still visible .But you know that !!!

Cheers Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andreas, I prefer to reduce the blue in ALL raws prior to any WB correction, just seems to suit my WF and thinking as I can then adjust it accordingly in either Raw or in PS and avoid casts. For me it's just getting what I think is the optimum balance, but all perceptual.

[Andreas Liedmann]

All good ....just another way to skin the the blue cat , LOL . In the end a lot is perceptual ....if not all

[John Mack]

Like how the cub is perched on the mound. The light and pose are nice as well.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Steve, a unique frame of a lion cub on a mound! I like the comp and the cub looking down at the other siblings. Good details and PP as usual. TFS.

[Steve Kaluski]

Cheers Sanjeev.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Focus looks fine to me, nothing awry from my POV. I wouldn't have noticed the fringing until you mentioned it. Colours and details excellent, I bet it would have been better with the 100-400mm... but you didn't have one at the time

[haseeb badar]

Hi Steve -- Thats great to see a lion cub on the mound , I always find the mounds very photogenic and cats on mounds looks special. Loved the colours, and the fine details in your subject . Sometimes it becomes difficult to expose against the sky but you have done extremely well in that department. Would have liked to see the tail in completion but nothing you could have done about it . Overall a fantastic image .

TFS !

[Dumay de Boulle]

I have looked at this image multiple times and still my initial reaction is popping up. I feel the image looks a little washed out. Almost like it was over exposed and then recovered. The sky is too light and so are some of the shadows.
IQ I can say is a little short of your usual but still more than acceptable.
I would personally crop some away above your name.
I love the pose and the right paw clawing into the mound.

[Steve Kaluski]

I have looked at this image multiple times and still my initial reaction is popping up. I feel the image looks a little washed out. Almost like it was over exposed and then recovered. The sky is too light and so are some of the shadows.
IQ I can say is a little short of your usual but still more than acceptable.

Hi Dumay, many thanks for your thoughts/feedback, but for once I have to disagree on the above, but do appreciate the input.

Cheers
Steve