I'm back from a great trip to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and still have a mountain of images to work through (more than 3,200!! :eek:).
In the meantime I thought I'd post another one from our recent trip to Kruger National Park.
On our last morning as we drove to the gate where we would exit the park, I decided to take a lesser known gravel road we'd never driven before. Around the first bend - voila! Two HUGE male lions! One was lying basking in the road and the other was in the bushes marking territory. They were most probably brothers. I was very pleased, as we'd found a few females at almost this exact spot a few days prior, and I had wondered then where the tribe patriarchs were...
Just as they were getting used to our car, another car came from the opposite end, not seeing the lions around the bend and arrived to fast that they chased the one off the road. They started walking into the bush together, and with the morning sun behind them I waited for a clearing in the bush to get this shot. The field was burnt on that side of the road, which made for interesting contrasts in colour.
I used partial metering (my camera isn't equipped with spot metering) to expose detail on the lion bodies.
This is about 95% of the original image, rotated 2 degrees CW. I applied a burned layer to the highlights to tone them down some.
Please advise on how you think this might be improved, especially with regards to cropping? I wish that the 2nd lion wasn't in the frame, but this was the only moment where one walked noticeably in front of the other and I had a clear angle of shooting. I have a shot where they walk so much in sync that it looks like one lion with 3 front legs - will post it sometime!
Techs:
Canon 1000D with 100-400mm L IS USM @ 235mm
f7.1 @ 1/500 SS @ ISO 800
Exp +0.3
Last edited by Morkel Erasmus; 09-21-2009 at 04:45 PM.
I like the mood you captured in this image and the backlighting is very nice. It gives the whole image and very pleasing composition and a lovely feel. IMO I very much like it as presented Morkel. The plant in front of the lion is slightly eye catching but difficult to remove. Thanks for sharing as I could very much feel the moment you captured.
You handled the back light pretty well and created an image with moody lighting. However, I don't mean to be negative, but I just can't get a handle on the image's focal point. The 2 lions are competing with each other for attention. Since they overlap it is hard to use one to emphasize the other. The bright grass in front of the first lion's leg is a bit distracting. I am sure this was a great experience.
I would have been happy to take this shot, but I agree with the previous comments about the grass in front of the leading lion's leg. I would remove it or at least try to remove it. I love the russet coloured bush in the background as it gives a greater depth to the picture. Have you tried different crops to see whether it enhances the lead lion, such as a squarer crop just focussing on the front half of the lion? Might not suit some people to cut off the hind legs, wouldn't worry me.
Hey Mork, with animals, its pretty difficult to ask one or the other to move to get the perfect image. Take the shot first, as you may miss the opportunity completely. The backlight effect works well, and the second lion doesnt distract - he was there. I feel you have done well with the overall exposure too.
GOod captured, Morkel. I like the rim light but the second lion is a picture killer for me. I may also tone down the contrast with an inverse curve and if it's OOK with your p/p ethics, the weed in front of lion can be removed.
This could work better with the second lion if his head was closer to the leader and you had both in the image. This way you have a nice juxtaposition of the two.
It is tough to get both in a pleasing composition. If both of them were closer then the impact would have been higher. I this case going for a tighter crop of the head is another option.
Nice capture here.. I agree with some of the above comments.. I think I could live with the 2nd lion if your framing went just a bit further back behind the shoulder
Backlit Lions
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