Who's the king now?

Gallery: WildlifePosted April 20, 2012244 views6 comments

These 4 male lions in their prime were relaxing royally - surveying the kingdom they had just usurped/conquered from a coalition of older males...when a crash of white rhinos showed up and chased them off into the bush. Suddenly they didn't look so regal. To be fair there were 7 rhinos in total, which would intimidate anyone.

Taken late morning but overcast conditions softened the light.
For obvious conservation reasons I will not mention the location.

Techs:
Nikon D7000 with Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II @ 98mm
f8.0 @ 1/320 SS @ ISO-450 (auto ISO)

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Jenaya Launstein on April 20, 2012 at 4:20 PM

Really neat story to go with the image. It's too bad the rhinos chased the lions out, though! I really like the male on the right, he has this really cool look to him (especially with that paw lifted up

). It's too bad the face of the lion laying in the grass isn't showing, but hey, nothing you could have done about that! I think the rhinos in the image are a huge bonus and definitely help to tell the story!

Registered on February 8, 2011, 254 Posts, 1302 Comments

Comment posted by Oscar Benavides on April 20, 2012 at 6:13 PM

Interesting story and very good image. There is resignation in their expression. The only nit is that I would have preferred to see the whole rhino with the huge horn. Thanks for sharing.

Oscar

Registered on January 2, 2011, 12 Posts, 141 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on April 20, 2012 at 10:55 PM

Really nice. My only wish would be for the lying down lion to be relocated a bit (or absent) so that he was not overlapped by the main foreground subject.

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments

Comment posted by Stephen Kaluski on April 21, 2012 at 12:55 PM

They look very hacked off Morkel.

If you have added any NR, would mask the Rhinos out of it.

BTW If you had settiing with 1/500sec in the above I might be worried you took someones suggestion for their default settings, LOL. An interesting image.

TFS
Steve

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

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on April 22, 2012 at 11:53 PM

Hi Morkel. The nice soft light is evident. Interesting interactions and body language going on. I understand Lon's point about the one lion's body merging with the middle one, a valid one I agree. Great photo over all! What a super encounter this must have been.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on April 23, 2012 at 5:43 PM

Thanks for the comments, folks.
Steve - I did not run NR on the BG...might just sharpen the rhinos some more?

Registered on March 22, 2011, 385 Posts, 2068 Comments