Lions

Gallery: WildlifePosted May 9, 2011133 views11 comments

Photo taken Feb. 19 2011 on a photo safari to Tanzania organized by Ray Barlow. This shot was taken in the Serengeti National Park. D300 and 500mm f/4 supported by a bean bag on the top of the Land Rover. ISO 250, f/5.0 1/2000s. Cropped from horizontal to vertical format for composition. Sharpening and other minor adjustments made with LR3 and CS5.
Comments and suggestions desired.

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Scott Miller on May 9, 2011 at 10:15 PM

Love the composition and the timing of the shot. A great moment to capture. The only little nit I notice is that the image lacks contrast, pretty much the entire frame is in a very narrow brightness / color palette.

Registered on May 9, 2011, 23 Posts, 322 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Canuel on May 9, 2011 at 10:18 PM

Now that's a nice bunch of cooperative lions. Great stacking of the heads, and I like the "yin-yang" symbol-like alignment of the top two.

Registered on September 12, 2010, 53 Posts, 660 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on May 9, 2011 at 10:42 PM

A wonderful image showing the love involved here - the vegetation is a minor distraction but not a big issue (though maybe you would want to crop that and do a wider comp instead of the vertical). I think it's a little bright and some warmer tones could be brought out

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on May 10, 2011 at 12:53 AM

Precious poses David! Excellent composition and despite shooting from the top of a vehicle you managed to get a very low angle perspective, which makes this very intimate. The image does look a bit bright and I believe that it will benefit from darkening it slightly.

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Harshad Barve on May 10, 2011 at 12:54 AM

Lovely moment , well done here

Registered on July 25, 2010, 39 Posts, 210 Comments

Comment posted by Stephen Kaluski on May 10, 2011 at 5:38 AM

Lovely interaction here David, well seen & captured.

Personally I feel it could go even slightly tighter in to strengthen than 'bonding' behaviour, would agree on Vincents suggestion in dropping the exposure a bit and perhaps a little less sharpening?

TFS
Steve

Registered on March 25, 2007, 189 Posts, 1064 Comments

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on May 10, 2011 at 7:49 AM

A spectacular frame !!!
Never seen lions cuddle like snakes.

Like suggested, it'll improve further if brightness and sharpness are reduced a touch.
Jagdeep Rajput

Registered on April 29, 2008, 686 Posts, 2857 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on May 10, 2011 at 8:46 AM

Tender moment captured David, I think it's a great close comp.
Nits already mentioned, great as posted!

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by David Sparks on May 10, 2011 at 6:28 PM

Thanks for the feedback. Based on your suggestions, I created a version that's not as bright and that has a little less sharpening. I like it better, but the difference isn't that great on the 720 pixel version, so I'm not going to repost. I will work with it more before I print it.

Registered on May 26, 2007, 290 Posts, 4270 Comments

Comment posted by Stu Porter on May 12, 2011 at 1:49 AM

Brilliant shot David, love the composition and you have captured the greeting ritual extremely well, this is not easy to do :) nice one cheers Stu

Registered on March 10, 2011, 8 Posts, 58 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on May 28, 2011 at 3:36 AM

Wow! Glad I checked out your gallery after my last comment David, what an absolutely splendid capture! Both the intimacy and lines in this composition speak volumes and make this a real pleasure to look at, very well done :^)

I do agree with the thought that this could be enhanced further by exposure adjustments in PP. Very much looking forward to seeing more of your work :^)

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments