Scratching behind the Ears

[Roger Clark]

A lion cub plays with mom and scratches her behind the ears early one morning in the shade of a tree on the Serengeti.

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV camera, 300 mm L IS lens at f/5.6, 1/250 sec, ISO 400. This image is the full-height image, cropped horizontally to 16x20 proportions.

So, you can't see the face of the cub, although I'm not sure one could get a good view in this configuration. What do you think?

Roger

[Hilary Hann]

Roger, you've caught a really nice interaction here. There are some in the wildlife forum who will decry the almost square format and the clipped lioness's ear, but square doesn't phase me at all. The rest of the ear would have been nice but probably because we've trained our eyes to expect them.
Just love the little cub's feet and the tip of the tongue of the lioness. Makes a fun, interesting image. The colour of the lions looks a bit rich but that might be the combination of the early light.

[Todd Frost]

Nice moment captured Roger. Squarish crop does not bother me, I crop to enhance and what I believe is best for the image not a pre-set size or ratio. That said I do wish for the entire ear on mom. Nice sharpness and rich colors. Well done, looking forward to more from your trip.
TFS
Todd

[Ken Watkins]

To my mind a case of a bit too much lens, as not only would it have been nice to get all of the ear, it would probably have been far nicer to see the source of the legs.

[Jay Gould]

Absolutely works for me -

Yup, all ears, cubs body, = a totally different story.

This image allows the viewer to dream the story.

300 and no TC; only a 1.3 crop sensor = wow you were relatively close!

Sure you could have had a second body ready with a 70-200.

I happen to like the feet sticking up in the air all by themselves.

And, I like mom's contentment.

[Marc Mol]

To my mind a case of a bit too much lens, as not only would it have been nice to get all of the ear, it would probably have been far nicer to see the source of the legs.

I tend to agree with Ken here, however you've managed to capture a comical moment between mother and cub, so well done on that front Roger.
TFS

[Stu Bowie]

Roger, mom really looks content with her cubs affection, and I like the colours in this. A little more space for her left ear would have worked nicely.

[Kurt Bowman]

Hi Roger, I am also in agreement with Ken on this one about getting the ear and source of the legs, but with a fixed focal length, not much you could do about it. I like your option you went with considering the circumstances and love the interaction of this. Still good work!

[Roger Clark]

Interesting comments so far.

Here is my take on the image, and I would like hear your comments. I'm not trying to be sensitive here because it is my image. I believe I would feel the same way if the image was made by another person and I believe I would make the same comments if this were another's image.

1) The squarish format. Since when is 8x10 a squarish format? I would call it a traditional format.

2) Ear cut off. I'm wondering if there is too much by the formula, you must do this for a good image idea here. The ear in question is not the focal point of the image, so I don't see that it is important nor that (being slightly) it detracts from the image. If one could see the second paw of the cub, then I would agree, FYI, the frame before is higher as I was doing mosaics to get a larger field of view, so I can mosaic the two frames and get the ear. (I do mosaics of wildlife often.)

3) Seeing lower. Early in the sequence I included lower, but it is just the cub's well exposed butt, so I felt detracted from the image and I excluded it from further frames. I believe seeing only the feet adds mystery to the image.

Thoughts?

Roger

[Steve Canuel]

Nice interaction you captured here Roger. I kind of like how both the front paws are grabbing the mom's head. Really don't care either way on the ear and I think including more on the bottom would provide a little too much information on the gender of the cub and put it right in the viewer's face.

[Hilary Hann]

Roger, I couldn't agree more with your comments about formula photography in wildlife. I see it all the time and part of the problem is that we train our eyes a certain way and then that is what aesthetically pleases. Breaking these habits can be hard. Even an 8x10 format is little used, panos and free form crops are used much more.

A little more rule breaking may free up a few more minds to see slightly differently, but perhaps not!!

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Roger, nice to see you posting here.

I have to be honest, it has taken several viewings to reach my conclusion and I think it does work. It's the expression on the lionesses face that sums it up, coupled with the feet in the air, as you automatically know what is going on in the frame. Yes, perhaps a wide POV might have been better, or even a portrait format, but I think, as presented this just sums-up the whole moment of mischief and fun.

Personally I would have liked a bit more clarity & detail, especially as it was shot with the MKIV and I do find the colour quite rich & contrasty in tone? Would welcome your thoughts Roger.

I would agree that we are sometimes too 'commercially' entrenched in our POV and occasionally it is nice to see something different that breaks those boundries that also provides the platform for a sound and strong image.

TFS
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

nice to see you posting here Roger

I agree that this is not really a square crop, although it might be perceived as such at first glance.
I don't mind the cut off ear in this case, as I love where the action is - just wondering if a little more DOF with the feet in focus would have helped?

a very nice moment for me overall

wondering about the saturated colours - perhaps back it down just a tad, especially the yellows?

[Harshad Barve]

Roger

I liked the moment very much here , source of legs and cut off ear don't bother me , excellent image
to my taste colors are more saturated and I may go for tight vertical crop too,
TFS

[Kirk Adams]

Slightly saturated for my taste, but I LOVE the frame !