Fabs - This is indeed wild. The photo was taken in the Mombo concession in Botswana very early morning. The tightness was because I was trying out a friend's 600 mm which I found too clumsy in my hands, I have since got myself a 500mm. I do tend to shoot and/or crop tight - obviously a habit which I am going to have to correct.
Great capture, I can imagine you had very few moments with this kind of eye contact. I like it as is. Not too tight for me, because the focus is on the eyes of the lion.
Last edited by chad anderson; 03-09-2009 at 05:31 PM.
Lovely light. Nice eye contact. How did you get this angle? To get a head shot, you must be pretty close. Mud crawlers in this forum will be happy that you got such an angle. Ofcourse, you would not have been dirty due to the nice grass. I am not experienced with African lions, but for Indian Lions and Tigers, I would say that the shooting distance is definitely within the comfort zone of wild carnivores.
Sabyasachi - the lion was on a small mound and I used a 600mm hence the angle and apparent closeness. However I have been within less than 3 ft from wild cats in Botswana in an open vehicle, sounds frightening and is potentially when you can actually feel the heat from their breath on your legs...however they are used to land rovers and tend to ignore you if you stay in the vehicle and don't make any sudden movements. It really is an awesome experience.
Awesome eye contact and intimacy to this Deborah... the fact that it's head is resting on the ground adds to the intimacy in my opinon. I don't mind the tightness of the image.
Lion
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