Mum and 6 cubs

[Marc Mol]

Something a beat more cheerful, this time from me.;)

This is Shingo the proud mum of six 7 week old cubs.
Had a real time of it just trying to get ALL 7 looking vaguely in the one direction.:D

In the 10 days we were in the Mara, she led quite an eventful life, totally losing one of the cubs for an hour or so and then finding it again in a real Disney joyful reunion moment and on another occasion fighting off a mature male Lion by getting up on her haunches and snarling, then taking off in the opposite direction to her 6 (now fleeing) cubs, leading the Lion away.
One very special mum for sure.

D3s 500VR 1/1600s ISO400@f/6.3 Masai Mara, Kenya Oct 2010

C & C most welcome

Cheers
Marc

[Sid Garige]

"Cheaper by the half dozen. Never seen anything like this. Nice image Marc.

[Rachel Hollander]

Marc - Your patience paid off. Another special image and sighting. I bet she's one exhausted mom. In the States she could have her own reality show for having sextuplets.

TFS,
Rachel

[Marc Mol]

Appreciate the comments guys.

Marc -. In the States she could have her own reality show for having sextuplets.
Rachel

I wouldn't be the least surprised Rachel!:D

[Hilary Hann]

I've been hearing a bit about this cheetah and her large family, hopefully she can raise them to adult hood, at least some of them. Special thing to photograph, shame about the harsh lighting but we can't have everything! :D

Whereabouts was her patch and do you have photos of her and the lion to share at some stage?

[Ken Watkins]

What a marvelous sighting, OK the light was not that helpful, but who cares.

I would just love to see this (my best is 3).

Worth putting up with crowds for?

[Harshad Barve]

She is super mom , I was lucky to sight her and she hunted in front of us
Great image for me , How many have image of Cheetah with six cubs , Big congrats
TFS

[Marc Mol]

shame about the harsh lighting but we can't have everything! :D

Whereabouts was her patch and do you have photos of her and the lion to share at some stage?

The light wasn't really that harsh Hilary, given that it was taken @ 17.10.
We were at quite a distance for the Lion interaction, I actually put down the lens and picked up the Bino's, my wife was amazed I had!!

Worth putting up with crowds for?

Just about Ken!;)

She is super mom , I was lucky to sight her and she hunted in front of us
TFS

Yes Harshad,
We saw her bring down a male Tommie also.;)

[Hilary Hann]

Perhaps the angle of the lighting makes it look harsh, with the sharp edge to the shadow. I've had the same problem with photos taken even later in the Mara, with people asking about the harsh light! :confused:

Anyway, a fantastic sighting and a really nice photograph.

[Gary Hamilton]

It must have been a thrill just to see six cubs let alone photograph them so well. Congrats on a wonderful image. Just curious, what are all of the cubs looking at--tourists?

[Steve Kaluski]

A good scene here Marc, but like the rest, staggered to see the amount of cubs, excellent. Great content for me.

Just a thought Marc, but with Canon they tend to have a red/yellow cast at times, Nikon go cooler, just thought that perhaps a slight tweak in colour balance to reduce the blues & greens might add perhaps, not sure?

TFS
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

lovely scene and I do hope she can raise them all to maturity! I agree with Steve - this has that typical Nikon green/cyan cast to it, and I would aptly adjust the WB ever so slightly :)

[Marc Mol]

I agree with Steve - this has that typical Nikon green/cyan cast to it, and I would aptly adjust the WB ever so slightly :)

Thanks Morkel & Steve
I'm very aware of the dreaded Nikon cyan cast and have adjusted and tweaked the WB/cast (in Nik Color Efix Pro 3 White Neutralizer & Color Cast remover being the best) on this quite a few times now before presenting here and to my eyes cannot see that cast on my cal monitor anymore.
It certainly was there originally and thought I'd put that baby to bed so to speak?
I would of course be happy to submit to another eyesight test!:p:p:p

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Marc, as I am away at present I can only view on MacBook pro laptop which isn't calibrated, hence my tentative (?) question. :) Will take another look next week when back. Just a quick thought, but you could try opening up the file in Curves, go to the blue channel and try dropping it slightly and see what happens, but no big deal.

[Johan Kruger]

Marc this must have been awesome to witness. From all the photos I have looked at tonight, this is the one that makes you wish you were there. Very nice

[peter delaney]

Hi Marc
very cute image.... agree with Steve, your whites are blueish , and yellows a green tint...

great scene to witness...

peter

[Stephen Earle]

Nice shot of those guys Marc. I agree on the WB issue though. It was really special to spend time with this family.

[Marc Mol]

OK, have just returned from a trip to the optometrists with this repost here :D:D:D

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Marc, to me this is much better, plus you have increased the overall detail within the image. Whatever you did I would say this is certainly a big improvement and in the right direction, WDYT?

[Robert Amoruso]

Marc,

Repost adds the warmth to the cooler that was needed. Nice work.

[Marc Mol]

Thanks Steve & Robert

Hi Marc, to me this is much better, plus you have increased the overall detail within the image. Whatever you did I would say this is certainly a big improvement and in the right direction, WDYT?

It seems that when I'm using ACR 6.2 to batch process RAW files (using Auto) the exp blows and creates the cool blue cast in the whites, I then have to go back and manually adjust that file. It doesn't happen every time, just the odd one?

[Ken Watkins]

Marc,
The repost is much better, why do you use auto conversion?

You must have too many images:D

[Marc Mol]

Marc quote

"This is Shingo the proud mum of six 7 week old cubs."

Just to clarify here, her correct name is Shingu (not Shingo) which in Swahili means neck , due to her pronounced long neck.

[Hilary Hann]

Marc, I saw this scene, but taken by another photographer, on the Rekero email sent last night. I thought at first that it was your pic, but unless you've changed your name it was someone else! :cool:

[Marc Mol]

Thanks Hilary, saw that as well, it was taken by Mitch an American who was no more than a vehicle or two to the left of me. We compared images that night and realised both or ours were almost identical.