Lurking in the darkness..

[Chris van Rooyen]

I photographed this lion one night in the Sabi Sands a year ago. It was way past his prime, but he still had a presence about him, despite missing some teeth. This was from the vehicle using a spotlight. I decided to try black and white, for dramatic effect. I removed a few distracting grass stems. Processed in LR and PS, with selective application of Neat Image for noise removal. No crop. Thanks for viewing!

Camera Model: NIKON D3SDate/Time: 2018:02:11 19:16:46
Shutter speed: 1/1250 sec
Aperture: 4.5
ISO: 6400
Lens: 300.0 mm f/2.8

[Gabriela Plesea]

Good evening Chris,

Thank you for sharing this image, I must say it had a great impact on me. It reminded me of an old lion who ruled the Mata Mata area for many years, I have no idea whether the locals gave him a name but I called him Fred. He had a scary appearance - even in daylight - but was a caring fellow and incredibly tolerant when it came to his little cubs. Fred died four years ago and his remains were to be seen for quite some time near a waterhole. They were untouched by scavengers, by the way.

You might agree, lions never get fed up with life like us humans...They never give up. They can be hooligans and foolish when young but experience teaches them survival skills and they hang on to these until their last day. Your image portrays one such survivor whose character has been shaped to resist competition. Not sure how old he is but there is something powerful and noble about him. A dramatic portrayal and IMO the B/W helps convey the mood as well as enhances the predatory nature of the species. I enjoyed viewing, very much.


Kind regards,

[Chris van Rooyen]

Thanks Gabriela, glad you enjoyed the image

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Chris thanks for sharing this one , even if being not a lover for night/spotlight images , this one is quite nice and a good choice for going B&W .
I do like the stare and the almost hearable ROAR .... just wish there would be more light on the upper head and mane !! Just my take .
Enjoyed watching this one

TFS Andreas

[Marc Mol]

This old boy has certainly been in the wars,

but I'm going against the grain here sorry Chris and say this B&W version ain't quite working for me, I'm a big fan of spotlit images however the shadow/lighting detail on his RHS (in this B&W version) doesn't give that spotlit look I want and would like to see this in colour for mine.

TFS

[John Mack]

Well this lion doesn't look happy to see you. The black and white treatment works very well.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Chris, I really like the thinking here and also the thought to convert to B/W. Being head on I feel works and the open mouth and snarling behaviour is cool, emphasised even more being shot at night. Is it working, as presented no, but I think it's down to the conversion, it's just flat. Based on the OP I'm not sure on the IQ, but expanding on the tonal range Black to White the image I think starts to come to life if you get more range into the capture. The RP is not ideal as some elements are clipped or has loss of detail but this may help shed some light into my thinking here, no pun intended. Having the left eye hidden is a bit unfortunate, but that life.

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Chris and Steve ...
Well the RP is somehow closer to what i was thinking , well done Steve !!
Maybe a tad strong in the darks in parts , shame about the left side of the face , but no light coming from that side ....so no other option !!

Cheers Andreas

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

An Image I certainly enjoyed watching and it did grip me but agree the OP was missing some pop and Steve has taken it in the right direction. He certainly looks like a seasoned campaigner.

[Chris van Rooyen]

Thanks everyone for the comments and critiques. Personally, I still prefer the original, although I realise I am probably going against the stream here. I do not like a harsh, spotlit look, I prefer a more subtle, suggestive approach, with only a suggestion of light in the areas which matters most. But as I said, I might be going against the stream here...

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Chris I can understand your thinking, reservations and prefs, however even with soft light it just needs a bit more dynamic range, so perhaps somewhere between the two. Maybe when you have time, try re processing????

[haseeb badar]

A very nice attempt Chris but I am with Marc and Steve here. I too had tried such frames realising afterwards that it could certainly been improved. But i really liked your thought process behind it and the framing as well .

TFS !