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Thread: Major cute factor: Lion cub

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    Default Major cute factor: Lion cub

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    Last February near Ndutu early one morning. The face is at the rule of thirds point, the chest is facing into the frame, but the eyes are facing out of the frame. What do you think?

    1D Mark IV, 300 mm f/2.8 + 2x TC, f/6.3. 1/1250 sec, ISO 400, on bean bag. Full width frame, trimmed a little off the bottom.

  2. #2
    Kirk Adams
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    I like the light and the pose but my biggest nit is the chopped-off posterior on the left. That will be obvious in a print...even with a mat. :(

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    Roger, at first glance I think the eyes are in the wrong third and although the chest is facing into the frame, it is the cub's face and eyes that draw the attention and I think it makes a stronger image if the cub looks into the frame not out.
    I also think that the cub is too close to the left hand side … next question, did you take another frame with the cub on the rhs of the frame?

    I suppose the thing I would say is that although composition rules are a great guidance, they aren't always visually the strongest way to present an image, in my opinion, as they can be interpreted so differently as in this case. It is the overall balance of the subject which isn't quite right.

    Having said that, I really like the cub itself, all composition considerations aside.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Roger, firstly I would have had the cub far more to the right, as the stance lends itself to the vertical of the RHS edge and would have avoided the clipped rear. In addition, I might also have moved the whole crop down a fraction, with less space above and a fraction more below. RoTs works well and serves as a good platform, but IMHO the eye is far more accurate and if it looks right, it is right.

    I like the muddy paws and guess the eyes looking away or into the eyes of the reader perhaps is a personal thing. Although I cannot comment to much on colour as I am away, but I feel it could again do with a little more selective sharpening & a fraction more NR on the BG?

    TFS
    Steve
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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    sweet cub in sweet light Roger

    I do agree with the comments above regarding composition...IMHO it is always the eyes that guide my use of empty space and not necessarily body posture. Having the same amount of space you have on the RHS on the LHS with the cub's chest closer to the RHS edge would have been a better call. I don't mind the space on top but can see Steve's point. The face does look like it would benefit from a slight round of sharpening as presented, too.

    If you have another frame with more of the LHS you can always do a wildlife-pano-stitch a la Robert Amoruso??
    Morkel Erasmus

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    I guess I have seen these cubs , cuteness alert all over
    Liked this very much as posted , excellent
    TFS

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    Thanks all.

    This cub was walking with its siblings and mom. I have a whole series of them walking. This one suddenly sat down and I had enough time to switch to vertical and press the shutter (2 frames) when another cub moved in front. I had only about 3 seconds for this scene. So, no I do not have another to the left, as the cub then got up and moved on. I had the focus point off center following the cub before he/she sat down, so when I went vertical the AF point was in the upper left on the eye. If I had a couple more seconds I would have moved the focus point over and recomposed more to the left. But I do like the composition and was curious what others thought.

    Regarding sharpening, I already sharpened more then my usual due to comments on another lion image. The image is extremely sharp and I can see individual hairs on my monitor and hairs are clearly 1 pixel wide. I wonder if the different perceptions may be due to different MTFs on different monitors.

    I processed with my standard ACR raw conversion then worked in LAB so I would have no color shifts.

    Harshad, This cub was a member of the marsh pride at Ndutu, so I'm sure you saw them a couple of weeks before me.

    Roger

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Cheers Roger for the additional info, helps to put a few things into perspective and gives more insight into why you shot as you did.

    I will take another look when I am back on Wednesday Roger, as the two 24 monitors are in a more 'stable and consistent setting' rather than on the laptop.

    cheers
    Steve
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

  9. #9
    Robert Amoruso
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    Roger,

    Let the eyes guide you. More room left would have been preferred here as that is the direction of gaze.

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    Cute cubs. Slight turn of head towards us (right) would have made this image more balanced. Having said that it is not easy to ensure that the the cub does as we want. I am sure you had great time.

    Cheers,
    Sabyasachi

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    BPN Viewer Pieter de Waal's Avatar
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    Really cute little guy with a lovely expression Roger. You seem to have had some good lion sightings. Composition has been covered, but as you mentioned one does'nt allways have the time in the wild.

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