Brothers
Apr, 2016Views
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![Two male black-veined white butterflies [Aporia crataegi] roosting on a Carthusian pink. by HenrikSpranz](https://cdnpt01.viewbug.com/media/mediafiles/2024/01/17/102725792_widepreview400.webp)
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken while staying Ululapa game lodge in South Africa. Ululapa is a lodge in the Sabi Sands game reserve. The reserve is open with the Kruger National Park. Which is an enormous game reserve approximately 360km long and on average 90km wide with a total of more than 2 000 000 hectares.Time
This was taken at the start of the afternoon game drive. The reserve has two a day with one starting at 6am and the second at just after 3pm. It was taken at round about 4pm so that light was good considering that it only goes dark at about 6/6:30pm in Summer.Lighting
It was tricky taking the photo because the lion cubs were in the shade. There wasn't a cloud in the sky which made the light very harsh which is why I decided to get rid of the colour during the editing.Equipment
I used a Canon 450D with the battery back attachment which is useful when having to quick switch between landscape and portrait shots in the wild. The lens was a 50-500mm Signal lens with an F stop starting a 3.5. This is a wonderful lens because you can quickly switch between a mid-level zoom like this shot to a shot with birds and out to an elephant walking past the game vehicle.Inspiration
This was my 3rd trip to this game reserve and had been thinking about a way to get a new interesting photo of a lion that isn't just another generic lion yawn. Lions are absolutely beautiful creatures but the problem is that they choose to stay in an environment where they are blending nicely with their surroundings often making it difficult to get a good photo of them. They also don’t have a wonderful array of colours which one can use as the main focus of the photo. You need to try and get an emotion out of them. The most common is of course the lion roaring which gets a bit boring after a while. Playing cubs are a photo that I have been planning for quite a while and finally got the photo I wanted.Editing
I am more of purist than a post processing freak. I try and do as little to the photo as possible to keep it as true to reality as possible. The few things I did do was: crop it slightly, increase the contrast slightly and obviously adjusted the colouring.In my camera bag
I normally take different kit depending if it is for nature or for photoshoots. My standard kit is my Canon 450D with the extended battery pack as well as an 18-270mm Tamron lens. I normally have an 18-55mm as well as 50-500mm Sigma lens. I also have an external flash. It is a great piece kit to have when taking photos of people or subjects in low light with backgrounds that aren’t too far away. Depending on the application I also have a canon marco lens and visitor mirror lens.Feedback
The only way to get a photo like this is to spend as much time as possible in the bush. You can plan as much as you want and a have all the L series lens you want but if you aren't there to take the photo you won't. Have a checklist of things to think about before you go out on any game drive and before you take any photo. As the day goes on the light changes dramatically and taking a photo in the dark (shade) or in the light calls for very different settings. Adjust them as you go so that you don't have to fiddle when the subjects are in place. Once the subjects are make sure to leave a little too much space around the subjects. There is no worse feeling that going back and during post processing you realise you cut off half of the tail that you didn't see previously. My biggest tip however is to take as many photo as you can. If you see the photo you missed it. What I mean is just before the shot you are looking for happens like the lion roaring start taking the photos (the best would be with continuous shooting) because if you see it through the lens no one else will. Rather see the perfect moment on the screen back at the lodge than through the lens when only you can enjoy the beauty.
