Male Lion Approaching at Sunrise

[Roger Clark]

On the edge of the Serengeti, in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), we had the extreme luck of a male lion traveling straight at us at a brisk pace at sunrise. This lion was in a recent battle that left the left side of his face swollen and partially paralyzed. His eye looked like it might be Ok, but was deep in the swollen face. The battle was recent as when he passed by, some of his wounds were quite red.

I got as low as I could get to match eye level with the lion. This image was taken when the lion was at a distance of about 13 meters (about 40 feet). The lion passed us 7 seconds later at a distance of about 3 meters. Camera data show that the lion was moving at 1.7 meters per second (3.8 miles per hour).

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV camera, 300 mm L IS lens + 1.4x TC = 420 mm at f/5.6, 1/250 sec, ISO 800. Full image, no crop. AF sensor placed on eye at rule of thirds line.

Roger

[Morkel Erasmus]

nice head-on angle here Roger
he does look like he's had a rough night!! I hope he recovered okay...

small nit for me is the blown highlight streak on his left front leg - always tricky with golden sidelight as you are trying to expose the unlit parts as well. I also think you can recover some more fur detail from the RHS of his mane?

[Harshad Barve]

Looks like a old warrior here
Love the pose and light here , excellent
TFS

[Ed Cordes]

Super, Roger. I love Africa and this image captures all the majesty of it in raw detail. The Lion represents the exotic animals and the evidence of the fight shows the difficult life they have.

[Hilary Hann]

I don't see a blown highlight on his left leg, perhaps I will when me new monitor arrives next week?

I love the pose here and the intent gaze from the one good eye. Light is a big plus and the DOF adds greatly. Interesting the dark hind paw (the lion's right), wouldn't be shadow so wonder if he had been wading through mud?

[Kirk Adams]

Not too regal to see....but a lovely documentation shot...

[Roger Clark]

I don't see a blown highlight on his left leg, perhaps I will when me new monitor arrives next week?

I love the pose here and the intent gaze from the one good eye. Light is a big plus and the DOF adds greatly. Interesting the dark hind paw (the lion's right), wouldn't be shadow so wonder if he had been wading through mud?

Hilary,
Yes, that is mud on his foot. There is some on the front foot too.

Morkel,
While the leg did not have a blown highlight, it was very bright, so I reduced it's intensity, and it did come out a little gray (shadow-highlight tool). I can fix that.

Regarding detail in the mane, the apparent loss is due to the limit of 800 pixels high. On the full resolution image, there is lots of detail from individual hairs. I think we should raise the limit in the vertical to 1000 pixels so is equal to the horizontal limit.

Roger

[Marc Mol]

Love the low head on perspective here Roger, really depicting his recent battle scars.
You can see why their reign is always a short one.
TFS

[Ken Watkins]

Hilary,

Regarding detail in the mane, the apparent loss is due to the limit of 800 pixels high. On the full resolution image, there is lots of detail from individual hairs. I think we should raise the limit in the vertical to 1000 pixels so is equal to the horizontal limit.

Roger

I could not disagree with that.

This looks to be painful, but their powers of healing are superb.

He looks relatively young so probably has plenty more battles to come.

Great POV given the difficulties that vehicles present.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Looks like this boy has been through a lot...Lovely light and pose Roger

[Marc Mol]

I think we should raise the limit in the vertical to 1000 pixels so is equal to the horizontal limit.

Roger

Another vote here.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Morkel,
While the leg did not have a blown highlight, it was very bright, so I reduced it's intensity, and it did come out a little gray (shadow-highlight tool). I can fix that.

Regarding detail in the mane, the apparent loss is due to the limit of 800 pixels high. On the full resolution image, there is lots of detail from individual hairs. I think we should raise the limit in the vertical to 1000 pixels so is equal to the horizontal limit.

Roger

Thanks Roger. It looked like the highlight was blown but overly compensated for using the recovery slider or burn tool - your clarification also explains it. :)

While I agree that we often feel the need for a 1000px vertical limit, I think it wouldn't enhance viewing pleasure as one would have to scroll up and down to "take in" the picture, whereas 700-800px is just right for viewing the image as a whole :2

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Looks battle scarred !! Love the light and the look on its face ! Lovely !