Little lost cubs

[Marc Mol]

Dawn and a pair of 12wk old cubs from the Ilkiseuseu pride found themselves stranded high up in a thicket early one morning following a fracas with the rival Mulibany pride that came in on an Eland kill the pride had made the previous morning.

This pair somehow managed to scramble their way high up and the 3rd cub was separated and it too found it's way high up a Balanite tree, some 100m apart, crying out for Mum.

All three eventually found their way back to Mum but not before some drama filled 12 hrs had passed!

A real life Disney moment


Nikon Z9
Nikkor Z400TC f/2.8
1/320s
f/2.8
ISO5600

1400 px wide (my preference)

Cheers
Marc

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Marc .. very sweet capture , they are looking so adorable on the shrub and at least as viewed quite confident and relaxed .
Nice deep saturated colors in the tree and the subjects ... as a good contrast the subtle blue sky . Nicely done .
If this was mine I would have tried to move the crop to the right , if you have it ???!!! As the cubs are looking more to the right side of the frame . But you might have a reason for the chosen crop ....

Nice to see the little buggers

TFS Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Very cute indeed and I can just imagine the tension with the two prides clashing, those little ones look a bit lost and fearful... you have managed to capture lots of emotion.

Andreas already covered the composition issue and I tend to agree with his observations. Seeing we use the same gear I am certain you could have safely gone to ISO 10.000 - consequently the subjects would have been much sharper and it's so easy nowadays to deal with a bit of noise in PP.

Nevertheless, loved the pose and scene altogether and relieved to learn from your intro that the little ones were reunited with their mother - thank you so much for sharing!

Kind regards,

[Marc Mol]

If this was mine I would have tried to move the crop to the right , if you have it ???!!! As the cubs are looking more to the right side of the frame . But you might have a reason for the chosen crop ....
TFS Andreas

Thanks Andreas.

A large FG distracting bush was on the right, so no more room there unfortunately.

Seeing we use the same gear I am certain you could have safely gone to ISO 10.000 - consequently the subjects would have been much sharper and it's so easy nowadays to deal with a bit of noise in PP.

Kind regards,

Thanks Gabriela.

I certainly pushed the ISO to 12800 granting me f/4 and the DOF variation and sharpness across the pair made consequently zero difference, hence my preference for the lower ISO with this submission.

This was taken @ 6.27am in pre dawn light with sunrise still another 25 mins away, so even for the Z9, it has it's limits.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Ok Marc .... sometimes we have reasons for the chosen cropping or composition . thanks for the additional info