Kalahari King (+alt. versions)

some of my fondest memories: in the bright moonlight watching a pride of lions coming down to water and having the still air crackling with the depth and timbre of the roaring. the huge head and mane thrown back, snout forward and from the very depths of the male comes the sound, growing to a earth-shaking crescendo! Yes!

Nice portrait Vincent, like the stance and subtle BKG, works well against this awesome character. Just wonder about easing off a fraction on the Contrast?

US tourists (apparently the study was conducted in the US) visiting Africa, come specifically to see a Male Lion.

FWIW Vincent, having just past a big male Leopard and two honey badgers in daylight, the group we stopped to tell were only interested in male lions, what a feast they missed. Guess we all have our own agenda's.

TFS
Steve

No wonder, an impressive specimen. The lighting appears to be bit harsh, but handled well. I feel, Steve's suggestion about easing off contrast holds merit.
Jagdeep Rajput

Hi Steve, the original is a lot less contrasty indeed as you can see. It was only after I made a B&W conversion that I experimented with this more contrasty look, which I actually like a bit better than the original. What I did I stacked the color and B&W on top of each other and used the luminosity blending mode to get to this result.

And the B&W version for comparison.

Hmm... tough call for me. I see the appeal of the high contrast version in color, though I think I prefer it in B/W. I do like the "non-contrasty" color version as well.

Max

Is it just me or does the image look a bit compressed in the horizontal direction?

Hi Vincent, I think the RP has lost a bit of character as you say. I am not a great fan of Luminosity mask as I have found detail looks lost and or, reduced. Try a Linear Curves adjustment, that might just bring back that contrast it needs, but not as severe, WDYT? Brad will chuckle, but on the RP I think you could add a hint more select USM. .

I know young Morkel will have a thought about the B/W

I do like that slight windswept mane under the chin.

Steve

Magnificent specimen as only the Kalahari can deliver, Vincent!
I like the head-on approach and the flowing black mane. In his prime, I would say...

Steve was right - I love the B&W! Nice rich tones, good detail...really makes the facial/mane detail shine.
I too like playing around with luminescent B&W layers on top of the colour layers so I quite like the OP, but think the ideal colour version would be somewhere between your OP and colour RP...?

Nice shot of a beautiful animal. IMHO the second color version isolates the subject a bit more (which suites my taste).

Regarding the statistic, I suppose Disney brainwashed us all with the Lion King.

Love the windswept mane, the direct approach and the bg. I, too, though, prefer something in between the original and the repost. Regarding Americans' preference for male lions, you can't blame them can you, if something like this specimen walks past!

Great pose and light. The look on the face of the lion and the wind blowing his mane really makes the image.

oh, and i prefer the less contrasty image- certainly in the grass.

Superb image Vincent, the contrasty colour version has my preference by far, especially the grass looks better in that one!

Hey Vincent, I really like these all.. Not just because I'm easy to please but because variations and adjustments on a strong starting point more often than not look great! At some point it really becomes a matter of taste - and on that we will seldom get consensus.. Your image however is great - awesome light and a very neatly combed mane

Jerry, you said:

Is it just me or does the image look a bit compressed in the horizontal direction?

I cannot explain what you see other than that it is perspective distortion caused by the narrow field of view of a long focal length lens.

That is one handsome lion and a handsome shot. I like the original non contrasty version best.

Awesome portrait Vincent! I like the original too.

Ken Archer

I like all three as this is one magnificent Kalahari lion with that black mane. If I had to choose I'd pick the second shot simply because it's the one with the least amount of processing but all three versions are great. Thanks for sharing and for the explanation.

PS - Call me strange but I qualify as one of those tourists but to me the draw isn't a single species but the total package of variety and sheer numbers. I think there are more large mammals in just Kruger than all of the Northern Rocky Mountains parks (Yellowstone, Teton, Glacier, Waterton, Banff, Kootenay, Yoho and Jasper) combined. Of course, the winters are a bit harsher in the Rockies than anywhere in Africa.

A really powerful image Vincent. I love both your reposts. I have just returned from Kgalagadi myself and had the privilege to be 2 meters away from a male and female. Awesome feeling and firmly puts perspective of where we would fit in on the food chain.