On the Rock

[Ken Watkins]

We found this Lioness on our way back to camp late one evening 17.30, in the shade.

Taken in Ruaha National Park, Tanzania, 7th September 2010.

EOS 1D MkIV

500mm F4 IS hand-held from open game viewing vehicle

F4.5, ISO 1600, 1/200, EV+0.67

[Rachel Hollander]

Ken - I like the pose captured and the comp with the downslope of the rock into the lower left corner. Also the stare is intense.

TFS,
Rachel

[Harshad Barve]

Gotta love this Ken , what a pose on rocks

Super shot
TFS

[Stu Bowie]

Great eye level capture Ken, and just love the direct eye contact. Good detail on the lioness, and she is separated from the BG very well.

[Norm Dulak]

Very nice image Ken, as it is!

I wonder, however, whether it might be improved a bit by judicious cropping. One result of doing that would be to remove branches on the right side that IMO don't contribute much to the image, and to increase the focus even further on that beautiful cat. I've attached a repost image here showing what I mean.

I offer my comments not as criticism but in the belief that, in a critique forum, those posting images deserve more than mere praise for their efforts, but positive suggestions for possible improvement.

Thanks for sharing this delightful image!

Norm

[Austin Thomas]

Hi Ken,

What a great pose and stare. Looks like she is worrying about something. I like the tighter crop and feel it needs some more sharpening to the face.

Cheers

Austin

[Marc Mol]

Nice pose and direct stare here Ken

Hi Ken,

What a great pose and stare. Looks like she is worrying about something. I like the tighter crop and feel it needs some more sharpening to the face.

Cheers

Austin

Agree with Austin on some more USM and a touch of contrast boost.
TFS

[Hilary Hann]

What a wonderfully classic pose Ken. Very nice. Whilst my first reaction was to crop off some of the rhs, I think the repost is a little too tight as it seems to accentuate a slight softness in the lioness. Will be interested to see if you can get her a little sharper and what you think about taking off some of the rhs. I would be inclined to leave all the lhs sloping rock in myself.

[Ken Watkins]

I agree this is not pin sharp, but then hand-holding a 500mm at 1/200 F4.5 is not necessarily going to produce very sharp results. Any further selective sharpening did not achieve a lot, but may have improved it for web presentation.

As for the crop I was unsure, I thought about removing the branches on the RHS but decided not to.



Thanks for your kind comments, this was our first ever Lion on a rock sighting, and there are lots of nice rocks in Ruaha.

Austin,

The relatively odd position she was in laying on a rock in the shade lead us to believe she probably had young cubs nearby but we will never know.

Norm,

Thanks for the repost it is similar to how I first processed this image, and then changed my mind to a wider approach.

[Sid Garige]

Ken,

Like the original post. Very nice eye contact and pose.

[Stephen Earle]

I'm for the first composition. Unfortunately the sharpness is just not there as you mentioned.