Kalahari - Makalali Lodge

[Jeni Williams]

Was really sad to see he has lost a canine and a couple of premolars. Needless to say, only saw it once I was checking the shots later that evening! I was told by the tracker that Kalahari was kicked by a zebra he was hunting last year..." the zebra didn't want to get eaten"!! (Now why am I not surprised):)
Canon 40D
focal length: 97mm
f/4
Ss 1/250sec
ISO 200
Flash.

Handheld

[Kiran Khanzode]

Impressive head shot showing each any every (but 1 ) tooth ! I still wonder if Tigers are really bigger than these cats. Probably it's the size of the Lion's head that gives that impression.

[Danny Laredo]

Fantastic image!

[Steve Canuel]

Probably a good thing he didn't lose that bottom one as well. Nice use of flash. Good contrast with the BG.

[Ed Cordes]

Great up close and personal image. The exposure is very good and I like the dark BG effect.

[Harshad Barve]

Lovely shot, As per my info, Africal Lions are bigger in size compared to Royal bengal Tiger
Thanks for sharing
Harshad

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Jeni, was this taken at night? Can you explain your flash settings? And your ambient settings please. I do like the open mouth and the spotlit effect.

[Fabs Forns]

Impressive mouth, I also wonder if this was taken at night or just as flash as main light. Very dramatic image.

[Jeni Williams]

Thank you so much for viewing and commenting.
This was taken at night; we had gone off-road to see the lions and the light was from the tracker's spotlight.
The 2 lionesses had moved away from the other game drive vehicles; Kalahari was following them. We were moving through the bushes and trees to try get ahead so it was very dark.
My daughter told me we had been asked not to use "full flash" in close proximity to the cats so that's when I grabbed the 40D.
I had taken a couple of images a few moments earlier when he was lying down and was battling to cope with the exposure from the spotlight. The spotlight at this point was almost directly in front of him and I was in the very back of the vehicle giving me a bit of angle so decided to use the on - camera flash to try get some detail on the top part of his head when he came closer. (He was about 3 metres away)

[Stu Bowie]

Great close up Jeni, and good use of flash. Although this image is about the detailed mouth from a yawn or snarl, I would liked to have seen a bit more room on the left, as the ear is a bit tight.

[Morkel Erasmus]

as far as I know the tiger's physique is bulkier than the lion's. but it might be the Siberian Tiger.
great shot and use of multiple light-sources Jeni! agree with Stuart about more space to the right.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

97 mm?
It seems you were quiet close.

Siberian tiger is the largest followed by the Royal Bengal Tiger (panthera tigris tigris) and both are bigger in size than the Asiatic lion as well as the african lions. The african lions (once introduced in India) were systematically killed by the tigers in the wild.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Jeni Williams]

Thanks Stu, Morkel and Sabyasachi. I can leave a it more behind the ear - not much but I'm a bit stymied as it is on where to crop. Sabyasachi - yes, at that stage we were about 3 metres from him.

[Arthur Morris]

This was taken at night; we had gone off-road to see the lions and the light was from the tracker's spotlight. My daughter told me we had been asked not to use "full flash" in close proximity to the cats so that's when I grabbed the 40D. The spotlight at this point was almost directly in front of him and I was in the very back of the vehicle giving me a bit of angle so decided to use the on - camera flash to try get some detail on the top part of his head when he came closer. (He was about 3 metres away)

Hi Jeni, Thanks for the info. You were in effect using the flash as main light technique.