Chilling lioness

[Steve Kaluski]

One of the two female lions I had the please to spend time with in Botswana. The pride is one of the recent documentaries Dereck & Beverly Joubert have done for Nat Geo living along the Selinda spillway. As the cubs decided to play, she just decided to chill on the road, 30 mins later the two females took down a male warthog, - the family ate well.

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

Steve

Subject: Lioness (Panthera leo) chilling
Location: Botswana
Camera: Canon 1DX MKII
Lens: 200-400f/4 HH
Exposure: 1/1000s at f/5.6 ISO640
Original format: Landscape, almost FF
Processed via: LRCC Classic & PSCC2019

[Gabriela Plesea]

She is a beauty, Steve - love the relaxed pose from SuperMom here. Wondering how old she might be...perhaps six or seven years of age?
This is very nicely framed and POV is great. Light must have been a bit tricky but you exposed very well. I also love the colours and detail here - beautifully processed as expected, Sir

I really enjoyed viewing, thank you so much for sharing - do you happen to have some with the cubs as well? You know how I love lions, would like to see more!

Warmest regards,

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, yet again, thank you for the very nice comments and feedback. You have seen the cubs and Mum previously, but I will see what I still have.

I will send you a link to the Joubert’s clip which will hopefully satisfy your thirst for cubs and a snippet of D&B film. Sadly I’m not sure on the guidelines as to whether YouTube clips are permissible to post?

[Stuart Philpott]

Steve the lioness I find stunniing she's so full of "health detail wonderful as ever I find the bkg a tiny bit bright, tis late buddy tired eyes, could well be the case, but hey worth mentioning
She's an absolute cracker what we stockmen call " shinning" ( a picture of health)

It does look a really tough situation to expose in!!

stu

[Steve Kaluski]

I find the bkg a tiny bit bright

Hi Stu, you have to say what you think and so no worries, always feel free. Yes the BKG is bright, a case of shade and bright light and so I exposed for her and left the BKG to do what it does. Providing you don't do anything too silly, there is often enough info to address the BKG in PP. Condition were OK, not ideal, but then when are they and so you have to trust your camera and Histogram all the time, as your Histogram is your best buddy and friend, nothing else.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hi Gabriela, yet again, thank you for the very nice comments and feedback. You have seen the cubs and Mum previously, but I will see what I still have.

I will send you a link to the Joubert’s clip which will hopefully satisfy your thirst for cubs and a snippet of D&B film. Sadly I’m not sure on the guidelines as to whether YouTube clips are permissible to post?

Loved the link, Steve! Watched it again and again, just cannot get enough of those little ones. Shared it at work with my staff and some patients too, everyone enjoyed it. Aaaargh, and there's one little cub that is so sweet, I am sure you know which one I am referring to...

I will try find out if those links can be shared in the forum, but in the meantime if anyone wants the link please email me or drop me a message:)

[Steve Kaluski]

Aaaargh, and there's one little cub that is so sweet, I am sure you know which one I am referring to...

Give them three years and they will be less sweet and more 'born killers'. Yes the whole film is awesome!!!

Sadly with the update/refurb of the camp, I doubt I will be staying there gain, at roughly 2k a night pp now, plus I was paying $500 a day for the vehicle, costs start to mount up!!!

Thanks again.

BTW sutures ut this morning

[Gabriela Plesea]

Give them three years and they will be less sweet and more 'born killers'. Yes the whole film is awesome!!!

Sadly with the update/refurb of the camp, I doubt I will be staying there gain, at roughly 2k a night pp now, plus I was paying $500 a day for the vehicle, costs start to mount up!!!

Thanks again.

BTW sutures ut this morning

Three years, yes! But right now those little ones are sweet as can be. And pretty smart too!

Will email you regarding accommodation, I just did a follow up on something and it looks good
Glad the sutures are out and the Master is back on his...toes again

Have a super week-end, Steve!

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Steve, a solid image with loads of details and sharpness. I like the relaxed pose and the natural colours. TFS. Sutures off?? Hope you are OK steve?

[Jonathan Ashton]

Love the lioness Steve, the DOF couldn't have been better. I am with Stu the background is a little bright. Seems a little odd me saying that when I know you are recreating the conditions and that is pretty much what I try to do but in this case I think I would have brought the brightness down just a little.
I remember a judge saying to me once if you were going to paint that image would you paint it like that? I think he was saying photography is an art as well as a craft, I appreciate it sounds a bit like double talk from me when you suggest my images are too dark or lacking tonality and my reply is I am trying to recreate the conditions in which the subject was taken!
Oh well photography is dynamic and so are opinions

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks folks.

Jon, it's all subjective, when I say the image is dark and you say it was, it then begs the question - are we trying to replicate the image or portray the subject to it's best and so manipulating the image so it's a bit lighter, but you see all the lovely detail, texture and colour which would be hidden if we left it as is, so what is right and wrong? In addition, what the camera actually captures is just data, in it's nature we have to manipulate that file, you cannot leave the file and offer it straight out of camera. Plus, there are too many restraints it adds in within the capture/the cameras interpretation and so you, as the owner/artist has to then to be the person to tease out all the right elements and put it together like a jigsaw to present to our, the audience. Just think, what would your eyes rate the ISO at, for one of your images, a lot more than your camera settings I bet.

So coming back to the BKG I'm OK because you do get those patchy bright areas, nothing is tonally flat or at a constant 50% so all i have done is use a layer to darken and so what tonal values the camera has capture is replicated if that makes sense?

Good to chat.

[Alex Becker]

Love the relaxed pose and curled paws. Great detail throughout as well. I'm okay with the two toned / lit BG, and like that we can see a bit of the lions shadow from it. TFS

[John Mack]

Nice pose on the lion. Detail looks great. The background is pretty bright but thats not too big of a deal. Like how the lion is on the road and in the open. Looks pretty content with just chilling there.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Steve -- Liked the relaxed pose and details are excellently displayed in your subject. I think the settings were somewhat tricky but your superb field and PP work makes this a nice image. I also liked the exchange between Jon and you and I agree on that completely.

TFS !