Lion relaxing in really last warm light

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi folks .... yes we had great light in Nxai Pan , but mostly no subjects during the great times .
This time we got lucky with the lions .... well almost , as the pride decided to walk from the bushes right into the shadow of our vehicle .... so shooting angle was not so great in most cases . We almost could have touched them .....
Luckily some decided to stay a few meters away ....
I kept the image dark in tone and intense in color ... quite close to the original scene that I have in mind .

Canon EOS 1Dx II
EF 500 IS L II + 1,4 TC III
Beanbag

F 8 ; Iso 12800 ; 1/2500 sec ; could have gone away with slower speed to save less iso .... but forgot to go lower .
Man exp and auto iso

Processed with C1 and PSCC 2021 ; slightly cropped from LHS and bottom

Thansk for watching and commenting to my previous posting .

Cheers Andreas

[haseeb badar]

Hi Andreas -- What a magnificent red colour in the light. Loved the fine details even at that high iso, great job at PP.

Agree with you regarding the techs but such oversight keeps happening.

The FG lion is not working for me , it kind of looks like an obstruction, but I feel nothing you could have done there.

TFS !

[Steve Kaluski]

I don't mind the shooting angle Andreas, but 1/2500 for a sleepy lioness I feel is a tad more than you needed here, but... Yes the file is heavily under exposed, and the reddish light is what it is, but based on the OP still keeping it dark you can still pull more detail out.

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks Haseeb and Steve for your comments , much appreciated .

Haseeb - i wish the lion was not there , but did not want to push him out of my way .

Steve - as said in the intro , SS was overdone . The file is reflecting the original lighting of the scene .... no need for " correct exposure" and no need for more detail . The image can be interpreted totally different , no question ....possible options are endless . But it stays as posted

Cheers Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Wonderful relaxed pose from the subject and such beautiful eyes. POV looks good, composition a little awkward with the other characters present but you did your best under the circumstances. Getting that perfect frame is not easy when you have a pride of lions sleeping so close to each other.

Despite the gentle and almost golden 'last light' on the subject's face I feel the image appears too dark overall. Sharpness is there, yet I am used to seeing a certain level of clarity, or definition, in your images. I do understand you like things 'as presented' so I am just giving you my honest opinion.

Thank you so much for sharing Andreas,

Kind regards,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks Gabriela ... for sure you should share your honest opinion , otherwise it would be useless .... at least for me .

Just for your understanding .... how I see this example , you can imagine how dark it was already at that light level .... so I keep the image like the original light in terms of exposure , clarity or definition .
I do not see any need to create a lighter , more defined .... more detailed ( in terms of tones )

Cheers Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thanks Gabriela ... for sure you should share your honest opinion , otherwise it would be useless .... at least for me .

Just for your understanding .... how I see this example , you can imagine how dark it was already at that light level .... so I keep the image like the original light in terms of exposure , clarity or definition .
I do not see any need to create a lighter , more defined .... more detailed ( in terms of tones )

Cheers Andreas

I get what you are saying and I respect that. It's just that for the first time I see an image from you that looks almost as if it came straight out of the camera, a little bland and thirsty for more input from the man behind the camera... A man who by the way has great techincal knowledge and whose images usually have depth, definition, and clarity. Even those taken in deep shade

[John Mack]

Love that red light. Gorgeous frame.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the image composition and exposure. The red component is too dominant for me.

[Andreas Liedmann]

I get what you are saying and I respect that. It's just that for the first time I see an image from you that looks almost as if it came straight out of the camera, a little bland and thirsty for more input from the man behind the camera... A man who by the way has great techincal knowledge and whose images usually have depth, definition, and clarity. Even those taken in deep shade

Gabriela .... my images out of cam are even flatter . I cannot hear the calls from that image ... that you might hear .... maybe I need to go to the doctor to get my ears checked .
But wait .... very soon I will push things and will get comments into the other direction

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks Jon and John for your feedback