Lioness Cuddle

[Morkel Erasmus]

We spent a wonderful day with this small pride of lions in the Kalahari recently. The pride consisted of 3 juvenile males and 2 females...First off we watched them unsuccessfully chase an oryx in the morning, and as we came across them again later in the afternoon, they were just waking up for the night. Here the 2 females were playfully grooming each other.

They were lying on a rising dune next to our vehicle which allowed me a low-angle shot.

Techs:
Canon 7D with 100-400mm L IS USM @ 300mm
f5.6 @ 1/800 SS @ ISO-1250
Exp +0.7

[Hilary Hann]

You've caught a nice moment between the 2 lionesses. I do like the POV and good complimentary tones in the image. Got to love those ticks! :)

[Rachel Hollander]

Morkel - I agree with Hilary about the POV and that you've caught a nice moment between the 2, the one eye open, one closed and tongue out adds interest IMHO. It looks a little dark on my monitor but that may be what you intended based on time of day (or it could be my monitor). I think it would also work well to crop just to the right of where the paw joins the body (I guess that would be the hip).

TFS,
Rachel

[Marc Mol]

Lovely interaction, well depicted Morkel

It looks a little dark on my monitor but that may be what you intended based on time of day (or it could be my monitor).
TFS,
Rachel

Was thinking the same thing and wondered if a contrast boost would make this pop a little more?
TFS

[Harshad Barve]

Lovely interaction and very well captured
TFS

[Ken Watkins]

Morkel ,

If you have more space on LHS, I would suggest that you crop in the place recommended by Rachel.

This looks a little "dull" on my monitor.

Great tongue

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the feedback everyone

I was going for the light of the scene at the moment - the sun had set behind this dune and the whole area was cast in a soft shadow.

here is a version with a little tweak in levels and contrast. I will revisit the crop from scratch as I have space on the LHS (I opted to rather include more "lion" than more of the busy shrubbery on the LHS)

[Lorant Voros]

Morkel,

I like the interaction and I have to say I like the crop very much as it is. Low angle and tongue make the image even stronger. Well done.