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Sep, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at Ruaha National Park in central Tanzania, an amazing experience (especially if you don't mind seeing an elephant or two).Time
Told I had to be awake for 5.30am after a sleepless night alone in a tin hut with a door that refused to lock and convinced a pack of lions was waiting for me outside (later informed it was merely a herd of elephants) I was shattered and groggy and almost unappreciative of how beautiful the unfolding morning was. But as the Sun sat low in the sky and turned everything a deep orange this lioness came by and I was so grateful for the early start.Lighting
It won't come as a shock to anyone that the sunrises and sunsets in Africa are just beautiful. The Sun was still grazing the horizon as this lioness came to investigate the car and the light was picking up this halo around her body. I didn't have long to position her in the light as she was just passing through and I only had limited space to move but angled myself best I could, and now this is the image.Equipment
Travelling light in the jeep I only had my trusty old Canon 1000D (goes by the name of Geoff) and my 55-250mm lens (shot at 154mm, she came so close by there was no need for a huge zoom).Inspiration
It was a big cat in a beautiful place, who wouldn't be inspired!?Editing
I never like to do too much to my images, and for this I didn't really want to edit the lioness. I liked the richness of the colours and thought I'd work more on the background which is why it's more heavily shadowed - I thought I'd experiment with the foreground light this way and set it against a heavier backdrop.In my camera bag
Technically I don't have a bag because I'm an irresponsible photographer and Geoff has taken the brunt of a few hits, but occasionally tagging along is my wide angle lens if I'm doing a lot outdoors. Sometimes my lensbaby will put in an appearance if I want something a bit different. Otherwise I don't carry too much around, the tripod if it's needed and perhaps some lens filters but generally I'm not adventurous enough to need more than a camera and a lens.Feedback
Be ready! Luckily for me there was no waiting around for this shot, but nature is unpredictable and it's not going to wait for you to finish faffing about with your equipment.
