Eye contact

I think it works well. The detail looks excellent and I like his pose and the direction of his gaze. It makes you wonder what he is looking at. If you have Viveza, I might try putting a couple of control points on the large BG rock and darkening that down some. Good work here.

Hi Martin,

To me the eyes on this lion (combined with the direction they're looking) tell a nice story - that something of interest is outside the frame. In this regard I prefer this lion shots over many other I've seen (that may be nice documentary shots, but don't leave you thinking). I quite like that the head is in the shade. Personally I'm not too big a fan of square crops and this case I think I'd like to see a little more room to the right to give the lion something to look into (not sure if this was cropped from vertical or from horizontal, so don't know if you have any room to "recover" on this shot).

I don't disagree with Rick's comment that a selective exposure adjustment that brings the brightness of the background down may improve the shot.

Note to Rick: No problem at all with you mentioning Viveza in this regard, but be aware that's only one of a multitude of tools that one can use to selectively adjust exposure in the manner you suggested, including Photoshop, Lightroom, Capture One Pro, Apple Aperture, LighZone, and - in Martin's case because he's a Nikon shooter - Nikon Capture NX2 (which uses that same control point technology - its a proprietary thing from the Nik guys).

Cheers...

Brad

Thanks for the feedback Rick, Brad.
I'm not a huge fan of square crops either but it seemed to suit.
I've made some adjustments based on your suggestions - what do you think?

Hi Martin !
The re-post looks much better to me n it still has room for improvement, where as burning is concerned.
Love those beaming eyes!!
Jagdeep Rajput

I think the repost is better. Love those eyes.

Hi again Martin,

I prefer the re-post. While I can appreciate the view that the background could be darkened more, I'm fine with it as presented.

Cheers...

Brad

Looks like the big guy has found a bit of shade, I like the relaxed pose & upward gaze.
Nice work on the re-post to tone down the lighter areas..
Well done Martin!

Martin,
Great capture in awkward light, my guess is he was looking at a bird

The colors and eye contact are marvelous! Excuse my ignorance but where are you that you are not afraid to be eaten?

Thanks for the kind comments.
Karen, I am sitting in an open top Land Rover Defender.
In most game reserves the lions have become very relaxed in the presence of vehicles. They will have encountered them all their lives and do not see them as a threat.