Right Time Right Place?

Dramatic Ken.
It must have been gripping.
My only wish would be for a more frontal pov.

Wonderful action. I like the flying dust and dirt and the extreme open mouth of the one on our right. I also like the sense of seriousness imparted by the left guy's paw grabbing the other's shoulder. In an ideal world I would have wished for this to have happened without the big rock just behind their faces.

Congratulations is in order, excellent details and 'fight' action Ken!
I especially like the lion right with its head back & fangs barred.
"Right Time Right Place" - Well done!!

Wow Ken, you captured the furry and awesome power of these big cats. BG rock aside, this has so much energy with the tautness of their bodies, dust flying, fangs exposed, claws out. Would not want to referee this one.

Yikes Great action shot Both lions are firmly standing their ground.

Hello Ken

Congrats on capturing this moment. Great interaction between two similar sized males. Agree with Lon on the background rock.
Seems a lot of gesturing of two pissed off guys, releasing some frustration.

Thanks for sharing

Bill

For me this image shows just how powerful these animals are. Great action shot, do agree might be better w/o the rock behind them. This had to have been exciting! Thanks for sharing this wild moment.

Indeed! Dream sighting for most of us, Ken! Framing and action look great.
In a perfect world they wouldn't have fought in front of the termite mound and stump, eh - naughty lions
I presume you have some more frames from this sequence?

Minor: I'd revisit the colour balance/WB as it's a touch on the green side.

Wow, would love to hear the sound track for this. I would agree it's a "loose" coalition if this is how friends behave. Really great capture, with such drama and movement, dust flying and all.

Awesome Ken!!! The sounds must have been amazing. Being in the right place at the right time is not happenstance, sometimes it just takes 15 years. Congrats!!
Jim

Wow! Just look at that ferocity! Absolutely no hold barred contest here! Pity about that rock, but you've heard that already!

Thanks everybody for your kind comments they are much appreciated.
Obviously there is not a lot you can do when animals position themselves badly.I could obviously have done without the termite mound and fallen tree, but you take what you can get. The whole sequence took only around 20 seconds, but thanks to "modern technology" I have around 40 frames. My wife took a video but for some unknown reason it has no sound.
Next Time?

Amazing timing and framing on this action filled image!
Very nice Ken!

Hi Ken,

How 'bout "Right Time, ALMOST Right Place"? What I'm referring to is I think the absolute right place would have been to be positioned more to the left, squaring up the lions more to the camera and likely getting rid of those background elements. But in these situations you definitely take what you can get...and what you got is still quite impressive. I'm in agreement with most of the previous comments (including Morkel's WB comment) - one additional comment: not really sure of the pano-ish crop - not seeing a huge reason for that (and I see no reason not to remove some from the right of the frame, returning it back - or closer - to 3:2 aspect ratio).

Cheers...

Brad

Brad,
I agree about the positioning, unfortunately in order not to disturb the wildlife there are strict rules about staying on the somewhat limited designated roads. This was the best position we could find, given the limited time of action.
I do not see a green cast on my monitor, but perhaps it is just my "old" eyes

Really awesome interaction you captured Ken. I am not going to comment about the tree and rock...obviously not a thing you could have done about that. Plus, content makes up for that in my book. Yeah, right place for sure, but it also takes someone prepared to capture this and that you were. Just because it happens in front of us doesn't always insure we are going to get the shot. You did a great job of that here. I do agree with Morkel though about the greenish tint to this. My monitor shows the same thing. Either way, great shot.

Huh! Love the action here!
I can almost listen to sounds, your wife missed.
Jagdeep Rajput