Maneater

Impressive portrait. I know the story of he Maneaters of Tsavo well. I read a book on the subject and there was also a movie entitled "The Ghost and the Darkness" starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas. I actually camped out in the African bush about a hundred miles from Tsavo. Believe me, the story came back to me when nature called in the middle of the night and I had to exit the tent to take care of business. Love the expression and those marvelous eyes. I do wish the front paws were not cut off, but you may not have had any choice.

Ingrid,
Looking at the thumbnail, I immediately thought that this was over saturated but the larger image certainly reveals it is red dust,
I think this could be improved if IQ allows by a tighter crop, eliminating the legs

Just for interest I have seen males without mains in Selous, Tanzania.

Thanks both for your comments!
I have done crops of this photo, but in the end decided the full frame looked best - to me the bulk of the shoulder and paws add to the power of this lion. As for getting the front paws in, he just came and lay in front of me with this stare, so I captured this before moving back a bit. However, after we moved, he didn't look at me like that anymore
Some adult male lions can be seen in other parks without mane - probably a genetic mistake - whereas ALL adult males in Tsavo have very little or no mane. The closest science gets to explaining this, is that it's evolution… a large mane would hinder the males too much in the bush. Actually, this is still a guess, as the reason for this phenomenon is not actually known.

Ingrid.

PS: I see I forgot to mention the exif - this was taken with the Nikon D300, 300mm ,f/4, 1/320s, 400 ISO.

the red dust and the lack of mane make this a fascinating portrait but I am not happy with the crop.
I feel that either cropping tighter or opening up would both improve the image but I don't know what your original frame looked like. As it stands though I find the crop/pose just too awkward.

Thanks for your comment, Martin. I have explained in my comment above.
What you see here, is the original frame.

Ingrid.

Quite a majestic specimen with great eye contact. Seems a little tight in the frame but otherwise a good image. I wonder if you could isolate the lion, and reduce the red hue in the lion only. It would bring the lion out more from the background.

Hello Ingrid

Full frame, seems quite close!? Very red and colourful, especially seeing his dinner still caught on his chin! Thanks for the interesting write up and description , really enjoy understanding the background and your experiences with these magnificent Man Killers:)

Cheers
Bill

Hi Ingrid,

Interesting about the males in this whole population being maneless.

This is a nice intimate portrait...and I quite like the overall colour palette. I do find that the way the paw is clipped makes the shot feel somehow "abrupt". I think a small crop off the bottom - removing just enough to hide the dirt in the lower right corner - would leave the legs as natural framing elements on the bottom of the frame and simultaneously remove the issue of the clipped paw.

Just my 2 cents worth!

Cheers...

Brad

Thanks Brad, I actually tried both suggestions for crops before and to me they don't look right…somehow those sadly incomplete feet and shoulders add power and the earth and grass add…I don't know…something - anyway, here they are, let me know what you think when you see the crops.

And the crop eliminating the legs as per Jerry's suggestion...

Ingrid,
Two interesting re-posts of which I prefer the closer crop.
There seems to be slightly differing colours in each?

You're right about the colour difference, Ken. Interesting. They are both in sRGB and before upload look identical on my screen. Any ideas anyone?

Hi Ingrid,

No obvious colour difference between the two re-posts on my monitors (I checked it on 3 of them) - so can't comment on that.

My preference lies with the first re-post showing the legs - as I thought I would, I do like the legs acting as natural framing elements. As you noted and adjusted for, including the legs allows for (almost demands) a nice vertical (portrait) presentation, whereas the tighter look works better in a more square crop, which I inherently find a tad less dynamic. But definitely an "each to their own" thing.

Cheers...

Brad

Nice red tones here of the Tsavo dirt on the lion.
I also think a tighter crop would work well?