Lion Love

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Friends,

I am extremely privileged to live in one of South Africa's premier game viewing destinations, the Munyawana Conservancy. Because of the nature of my work I cannot always afford the time to drive around and take photographs. Sometimes I get lucky though... last Sunday I had a pair of lions mating close to the house.
Here is one image of the lioness. The couple mated every ten to fifteen minutes and in-between rested or slowly walked towards the nearby dam. The male roared after each pairing ritual and at times they roared together. Such a special sighting.

Nikon D5
Nikon 500 mm F4
ISO 4000
F10
0 EV
1/2000s

Thank you kindly for taking the time to view and comment on my previous images, I truly appreciate it.

Kind regards,

[Steve Kaluski]

Oh boy, the low POV is awesome I wont ask how and I'm surprised you guys were happy to be so close. Great expression on the lioness she doesn't look happy, no flowers or chorales I guess. is that the males front paw above her leg, assume he's dismounting?

Watch your darks, you clipped the very dark shadows, ideally there should be some 'detail' in those areas, I would also loose any vignette too.

TFS
Steve

[Gabriela Plesea]

Good morning Steve! And thank you so much for feedback:)

Low POV yes, but from the car, in fact I was a bit too close because at first I did not see them, they got up as I was arriving and started mating.
No vignette as such just a linear gradient, wanted to make the paw /legs of the male less prominent, if too much I will go back and lessen it no problem. The darks easy to fix, will do!
On my way to work now...back tonight, have a beautiful day!

Warmest regards,

[Jonathan Ashton]

What an eye catching image, I appreciate your intention to concentrate on the lioness and not the lion but I agree the variation in illumination doesn't look quite right. Great image though - well done.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you very much Jon,

Busy to fix the issues Steve and you highlighted, and there'll be more lions for you I must just sit down and process them

Have a lovely week-end,

Warmest regards,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gabriela .... greetings from Vienna
Am in Austria for a short time out and did some shooting on Rodents ... later more when I am back , with new stuff .

What a great capture and the facial expression is priceless , madame is not amused .... like always , LOL .
All works for me here , very well processed !!!
Just the gradient isn't my cuppa ... works mostly great in landscape stuff , IMHO , but less so in our business . Just my take .
I prefer to work with layer mask and brush the effect in ...

Nice one and TFS Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Andreas!

I never saw any Rodents when I was there, place was clean, spotless Just kidding, cannot wait to see what you bring in terms of photography.

Glad you like this capture, Madame was not amused yet very preoccupied in getting pregnant, so I am counting the months until I see the cubs!

And yes the gradient is too strong I agree, but only saw it after Steve pointed it out to me And the blacks a tad strong too. Never mind I can fix it all, just happy to be back here and at the moment there's no load shedding...

Have a wonderful stay in Austria and bring back lots of marmots, looking forward to see the images

Kind regards,

[haseeb badar]

Hi Gabriela -- Excellent pov, loved the expression, the image is popping out of my screen. Excellent IQ and processing. Very well done.

TFS !

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much Haseeb, appreciate your time to view and kind comments.

Have a great rest of the week,

Kind regards,

[Arthur Morris]

Queen G,

Amazing. I have not seen this species down by the lake near my home ...

with love, artie

[Gabriela Plesea]

She too is a Queen, Sir Arthur

Usually quite relaxed but when mating of course there are other 'elements' at play. Cannot wait to see her with cubs, gestation period for the species is around three months so probably she will give birth in August. She will then hide the little ones for a month or two so in October if I am lucky I will get to see and photograph the little ones

Warmest regards,