Savute King

Gallery: WildlifePosted May 11, 2011203 views13 comments

Sorry for being a bit inactive of late - we were on a 3 week holiday which included a 2-week road trip and a 1-week visit to Botswana.

This male lion and his brother reign supreme over the Savute area, although they are meeting some challenges from an intruding male coalition.

The pride was just waking up from their afternoon nap.

I used fill flash to get a decent exposure upfront with the sunset light being filtered by the thorn trees.

Techs:
Canon 7D with 300mm f2.8 L IS USM
f4.0 @ 1/640 SS @ ISO-800
580EX flash

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Harshad Barve on May 11, 2011 at 10:00 PM

Excellent image indeed

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

Comment posted by David E Lester on May 11, 2011 at 10:56 PM

Great shot......no nits here !!

Registered on March 24, 2010, 155 Posts, 793 Comments

Comment posted by Stephen Kaluski on May 12, 2011 at 12:57 AM

Hi Morkel, great side profile coupled with the nice dappled light in the BG.

Certainly the flash has really helped to bring out the detail, but I wonder if it was a little too strong? Not a great lover of flash I tend to avoid it, so if I am wrong no probs.

Do you have the settings still for the flash you could add to the EXIF, just curious. BTW this was as is no Beam ext?

TFS
Steve

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

Comment posted by Stu Porter on May 12, 2011 at 1:56 AM

I like the lighting on this one Morkel, nice use of fill flash and soft colours in the BG, he looks like he has seen a few things in his time :)
cheers Stu

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

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on May 12, 2011 at 7:55 AM

Nice close up n details!
I too would prefer to have lesser impact of fill flash.
Jagdeep Rajput

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

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on May 12, 2011 at 11:11 AM

I particularly like the rim lighting on the outline of the head and muzzle Morkel as well as that intensely focussed eye. Yes your flash brought out a lot of detail, but IMO that rim lighting would have come out even better if you had not used flash at all! I must add though that I am not a big fan of flash and I never use it on mammals anymore, particularly not on (nocturnal) predators.

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

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on May 12, 2011 at 1:41 PM

thanks for the honest feedback folks

I would certainly think twice before merrily using flash on a nocturnal predator at night, but in the daytime it can't be brighter than sunlight anyway and their pupils are dilated. I do have many shots without the flash that accentuate the rim-light, might post some soon!

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

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on May 13, 2011 at 12:12 AM

I cannot help but agree with Vincent on the use of flash, I never use it on anything as I believe it generally produces a flat and unnatural image as is the case here. Nice Lion though.

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by Luca Mussato on May 13, 2011 at 11:36 AM

I like it as is. I'm not so used to use fill flash maybe because i do not know very well the tecnique (have to learn a lot indeed).So I would appreciated very much if yopu can provide some info about your flash settings and tecniques.

Wanderful place the Savute.

Luca

Registered on November 14, 2006, 118 Posts, 855 Comments

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on May 13, 2011 at 12:15 PM

thanks for the comments guys

Ken - if this is your idea of a flat image then one with "pop" must surely look like a psychedelic HDR rendering

Luca - I think I was on normal ETTL mode with high speed sync and a -2/3 exposure setting

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

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on May 14, 2011 at 12:54 AM

Morkel,
You can of course interpret my comments as you like it certainly is unnatural to my eyes at least, but I do not wish to enter into a debate on fill flash use on wildlife.

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Miller on May 14, 2011 at 2:46 AM

Looks like a great morning to be lion watching, congrats on the nice capture

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

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on May 17, 2011 at 2:48 PM

Ken...just joking...I might add some contrast as I think it could use some, but as far as colours go I think this is nice and vibrant. Maybe I could tone down the brightness upfront to diminish the effect of the flash if some feel it's overbearing?

I agree - this is not the place for such a debate...

Scott - it was actually late afternoon

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