These are black maned lions of the Kalahari in Botswana. We came upon a pride of 10, the male, 5 cubs, and 4 females. They had killed a gnu the night before and...
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These are black maned lions of the Kalahari in Botswana. We came upon a pride of 10, the male, 5 cubs, and 4 females. They had killed a gnu the night before and were headed in to find shade for a rest. The male had already gone ahead to scout the territory and had just called a couple of the cubs to come to him.
I DO WANT TO ANNOUNCE THAT THIS PICTURE HAS RECEIVED SIX FEATURES, BUT VIEWBUG, IN ITS INFINITE WISDOM NOW HAS THE POLICY TO JUST SHOW ONE OF THEM. "TO KEEP YOUR PHOTO PAGE CLEAN, WE ARE NOT ADDING A DUPLICATED FEATURE AWARD : )". (YES, THE SMILEY FACE IS THEIRS). SO I'LL CLUTTER UP MY OWN DAMN PAGE.
I DID WRITE THEM IN PROTEST AND GOT THEIR USUAL MUMBO JUMBO ABOUT SHARING MY INSIGHTFUL FEEDBACK WITH THEIR TECH TEAM, WORKING ON UPDATES, YADA YADA YADA.
1. FEATURED IMAGE OF THE WEEK, 5-15
2. FEATURED PHOTO OF THE WEEK, 8-16
3. FEATURED BY VIEWBUG WEEK OF 11-9-16
4. FEATURED BY VIEWBUG WEEK OF 12-18-16
5. FEATURED BY VIEWBUG WEEK OF 7-3-17
6. FEATURED BY VIEWBUG WEEK OF 8-1-17
7. FEAATURED BY VIEWBUG WEEK OF 9-3-17
Copyright Notice: All images on this web site are protected by the U.S. and international copyright laws, all rights reserved. The images may not be copied, reproduced, manipulated or used in any way, without written permission of Kay Brewer, Artist, and Kay Brewer Photographs, a licensed business. Any unauthorized usage will be prosecuted to the full extent of U.S. Copyright Law.
Available for print without watermark and signature at:
KayBrewerPhotographs.com
PhotographsByKayBrewer.com
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I DO WANT TO ANNOUNCE THAT THIS PICTURE HAS RECEIVED SIX FEATURES, BUT VIEWBUG, IN ITS INFINITE WISDOM NOW HAS THE POLICY TO JUST SHOW ONE OF THEM. "TO KEEP YOUR PHOTO PAGE CLEAN, WE ARE NOT ADDING A DUPLICATED FEATURE AWARD : )". (YES, THE SMILEY FACE IS THEIRS). SO I'LL CLUTTER UP MY OWN DAMN PAGE.
I DID WRITE THEM IN PROTEST AND GOT THEIR USUAL MUMBO JUMBO ABOUT SHARING MY INSIGHTFUL FEEDBACK WITH THEIR TECH TEAM, WORKING ON UPDATES, YADA YADA YADA.
1. FEATURED IMAGE OF THE WEEK, 5-15
2. FEATURED PHOTO OF THE WEEK, 8-16
3. FEATURED BY VIEWBUG WEEK OF 11-9-16
4. FEATURED BY VIEWBUG WEEK OF 12-18-16
5. FEATURED BY VIEWBUG WEEK OF 7-3-17
6. FEATURED BY VIEWBUG WEEK OF 8-1-17
7. FEAATURED BY VIEWBUG WEEK OF 9-3-17
Copyright Notice: All images on this web site are protected by the U.S. and international copyright laws, all rights reserved. The images may not be copied, reproduced, manipulated or used in any way, without written permission of Kay Brewer, Artist, and Kay Brewer Photographs, a licensed business. Any unauthorized usage will be prosecuted to the full extent of U.S. Copyright Law.
Available for print without watermark and signature at:
KayBrewerPhotographs.com
PhotographsByKayBrewer.com
Read less
Views
6552
Likes
Awards
Contest Finalist in Visions Of Africa Photo Contest
Featured
Contest Finalist in Exotic Wildlife Photo Contest
Curator's Choice in Covers Photo Contest Vol 25
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Magnificent Capture
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
Superior Skill
Genius
Love it
Virtuoso
Top Ranks
Categories
ogilvie
October 15, 2015
You must remember that animals color depeding on the time of year you capture these beauts, the color of the environment etc. can vary . In the.rainy rainy season theyare washed clean of dust and will "change"color. Color of lions , for instance, vary from different parts of the same country and region. Still a great capture.!!!
mcampi
October 21, 2015
Kay you rock. The lighting is perfect, the subject is outstanding and the composition is awsome. Wow mark
nina050
October 24, 2015
That was supposed to be a Magnificent Capture!
Rrrrrrr VB!! So incredible! (The shot, not VB!) Love it.
Rrrrrrr VB!! So incredible! (The shot, not VB!) Love it.
Elyzabeth
October 28, 2015
Dahlink, you could not have done better if you tried, I can almost feel his breath! Ogilive's comment was very interesting.
Kazza60
November 04, 2015
congrats on the Exotic Wild life finalist award .. looks like a winner to me !!
UnkleFrank
November 05, 2015
Way to go, congratulations on your finalist award, I always liked this image.
abi23
December 05, 2015
I love this! Simple, honest and a wonderful capture of a personal moment between mother and cub ! Go you !!!!
AnneDphotography
December 22, 2015
wow, this is a stunner Grace ! detail color and emotion are incredible ! Congrats on the awards , well deserved ! :)
UnkleFrank
May 28, 2016
Way to go!!!! Congratulations on a very well deserved "Feature" award. My compliments.
UnkleFrank
November 09, 2016
It's always nice to find one of your images gracing the Featured View Bug Wall. My compliments for having it in there twice.
trainwoman
December 18, 2016
Well put..........another black mark against VB and their ignorant policies
I personally can see why this was awarded so many times and it should be shown
I personally can see why this was awarded so many times and it should be shown
UnkleFrank
December 18, 2016
I think more VB patrons should do the same as you wrote in your photo description. Over time, the VB leaders have alienated many of us with their ignorant and blatant "rules" for their laziness of NOT giving us our due awards in our photo page. It is not clutter!!! It is acknowledgement for an outstanding image.
Elyzabeth
February 12, 2017
Voted Visions of Africa :) (Which you will be, just a vision if you keep getting that close!)
estercastillo08
February 22, 2017
Congratulations !! Kay , one of the finalist, Visions of Africa Photo Contest, good luck
DorisSeybold
February 23, 2017
Congrats Kay for being finalist!!! Now go for the 1 prize - you deserve it!! and I´ll vote for you!!
UnkleFrank
September 06, 2017
Congrats on another Feature. I read your story and feel your pain. Unfortunately we all belong to a site whose powers to be do what they want. They have an attitude of like it or leave it. This site has the same revolving door policy as the progressives that have dominated Silicon Valley and the internet since the last political administration.
MichelleAnnHarrison
April 04, 2018
Gorgeous pride the King and his babes. Beautiful site to see father and babies
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
Botswana in southern Africa, Kalahari ReserveTime
Just before sunrise and through sunrise - the Golden Hour!Lighting
It was tough not to be SO golden - golden sunrise, golden grass, golden lions. I actually had to tone down the gold on the pictures. It looked natural to my eyes, but the photos not so much. Looked like I amped up the saturation, but I didn't! For this one, I desaturated a bit.Equipment
Canon 5D Mark III, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Telephoto Zoom, my knee or the door frame of the vehicle was my tripod, no flash. Nikon circular polarizer.Inspiration
One of the guides at the "permanent tented camp we were staying in saw this pride way off in the distance on the plains. We left breakfast on the table and jumped into the vehicle (did I mention it's a topless vehicle????) and dashed off to find them.These are black maned lions of the Kalahari in Botswana. We came upon a pride of 10, the male, 5 cubs, and 4 females. They had killed a gnu the night before and were headed in to find shade for a rest. The male had already gone ahead to scout the territory and had just called a couple of the cubs to come to him. Inspiration? The opportunity to be up close and personal (sometimes TOO close for comfort) to these magnificent animals in the wild, watching them act normally. I didn't stop to frame photos and decide what was next. This was the chance of a lifetime so I steadily clicked that shutter and caught what I caught. At any time, if the lions started acting antsy, that was our cue to ease out of there. I knew I wouldn't ever have this opportunity again. So I clicked and clicked.Editing
I shot Daylight White Balance, shutter priority (1/500) and let the camera choose the fstop. Unfortunately with that light (not very bright), the high shutter speed, as low ISO as I could go with, the DOF suffered. I focused on the animals so the grass and background pretty much blurred out. The good thing was that I mostly got the animals in detail and didn't really care that the background wasn't focused. I brought the RAW file into Adobe Camera RAW, and made a few adjustments before bringing it into Photoshop CS6. I did a little "border patrol", straightened horizons (pet peeve), then ran it through Perfect Effects 8 for a bit of HDR effect. I did a lot of denoising because despite my wishes, the ISO was high. I masked the lions and denoised the background. The I masked the background and got as much detail on the lions as possible. I desaturated the animals a little because the lighting made them seem unnaturally gold.In my camera bag
For this particular outing, I had 2 camera bodies: Canon 5D Mark III with EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Telephoto Zoom, and Canon 60D with Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS USM AF Lens, both with Nikon circular polarizers. Dust blower because there's a lot of that there! Also my Canon G15 point and shoot for emergency shots. But if I'm going out in the car and don't know what I'll run into to shoot, I'll have my whole set of gear - all lenses, all cameras, teleconverter, cleaning materials, 2 tripods (Manfrottos), black cloth to cover my camera viewscreen in the bright sun, mounts, manuals, guides, lots of SD and CF cards, and maybe a small laptop.Feedback
Go to Botswana and get the best guide available! There are SO many animals there! And so fewer tourists than other African safari countries--the guide companies ensure that. Be prepared to pay dearly for this privilege. Carry your long lenses, your best camera. Leave fear behind because, let's face it, you're out there with some animals that could eat or stomp you and you're going to probably be in a topless vehicle. Finally (advice I didn't take heed of), go with photographers. I was with people with point and shoots and more interested in moving moving moving than photography. I think we all know that people who aren't photographers are rarely patient with the time it takes for a photographer to really work.