Daily Photo: Majestic Lion

December 22, 2009 Categories: Quick Pic by Gerry 1 Comment

Majestic Lion

Madikwe Game Reserve

(Nikon D300, Nikon 80-200 @ 200mm, 1/250, f/2.8, ISO 2000)

__________________________

This must be one of the best looking lions in the Madikwe Game Reserve. We are lucky enough to have him and his brother pay quite regular visits to our general area which makes for a lot of fantastic photographic opportunities. On this particular day we found the two Kgala-Etali males under a thicket, quite full, getting ready to settle in the shade for the remainder of the day. As with any male lion the mane forms a stunning frame for the cat’s face and that is what I went after in this shot. The square crop, along with the mane, pulls your attention to the centre of the image to the focal area of the image – the eyes. For me there is one thing that makes a portrait of a lion work and that is getting the pupil clear and visible in the eye. This connects you with the animals a little more and gives the lion image more life. Catchlight is of course always a bonus! In this image I just got the two pupils as our boy was tired and a nap was imminent. The color version was not bad but due to the harsh backlight through the leaves I prefer the black and white as the contrast of the mane against the dark shadows just works.

Will be back tomorrow with another quick Daily Photo. Quite enjoying just kicking back at home and catching up on movies and DVDs but will still be doing a post everyday.

Oh, one more quick thing. I update my Twitter page on a regular basis with reminders of new blog posts and links to other wildlife and photography related websites. At only 140 characters per tweet you won’t get bored and you’ll end up with links to some amazing photographers, images and articles! You can click on the screen capture below to check out, and follow, my Twitter account.

There are also a few bits of useless information thrown in from time to time such as the last tweet on the list above. Yeah, there is actually a name for the smell after it has rained. Really?? It’s called petrichor. Check it out here. See, great useless info shared on Twitter!