Portrait of an old lion
When I was about 75 yards away from this lion (I was well hidden) I used my 80-300 f3.5-4.5 Sigma lens to capture this close up . it is one of my better picture...
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When I was about 75 yards away from this lion (I was well hidden) I used my 80-300 f3.5-4.5 Sigma lens to capture this close up . it is one of my better pictures I find
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Jul, 2014Views
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Awards
Staff Winter Selection 2015
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
Outstanding Creativity
Peer Award
Magnificent Capture
Jaw Dropping
Great Find
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
When I lived in Colchester, Essex, UK I was able to get to the local zoo in about 10 minutes flat. Since I had a gold pass I could enter free of cost so I made regular visits. The lion enclosure is open to the elements covered with grassland and a few small rocks, The lions like to rest there and that is where I took this Lion's picture. The original picture had human made partitions in it which distracted from the majestic look of this lion, hence I cropped it to create a square picture.Time
The picture was taken on Saturday 7th November 2015 around 11 AM, I used go to eh zoon during my days off from work but that week I went on Saturday.Lighting
That day, the sky was overcast with light cloud cover so there was nice diffused lighting, perfect for this kind of picture, virtually no shadow to speak of, and the camera really took in all the fine detail of the lion's manes and face.Equipment
Canon EOS 40D with a Sigma APO 70-300 f4.5-5.6 Macro DG., hand held, resting the lens after focussing against the glass of the view platform to keep shake at bay..Inspiration
I admire those photographers that are so lucky to have booth time and money to take animal pictures in the wild, my wild is Colchester Zoo, not comparable, I know, but I still try to take the best picture I can with what I have available. Animal -wise there is nothing else locally where you can capture animals like this lion. At least it is safer in the zoo than in the wilds of Afrika.Editing
Post processing in this case was cropping to square, nothing else needed doing to it.In my camera bag
These days I have a Canon ESO 7D mark II, with Canon EF-S 50mm f1.8, Canon EF 80-200 f2.8 L IS II USM, EF 70-300 f4-5.6L IS USM , , Canon EF-s 10-18 f 4.5-5.6, and my "on Camera lens" Canon EF-S 17-55 f 2.8. Further as and when required a Tamron SP 90 mm f 2.8 DI Macro lensFeedback
When arriving a new place, always look at the surroundings and try to see if a better viewpoint is available, then look for light quality and the combination of the two should give you a better than average picture.
