Although I did go out to photograph this weekend, I had to devote this post to an oldie.
We have finished our planning for a two week trip to the Kruger national park in South Africa in June. It has been too long since our last holiday to Zambia in 2008 and we are really excited to go back to our beloved Africa once again! Travel pace will be quite a bit slower than what we are used to though, as our daughter will of course travel with us. I am curious as to how a nearly one year old baby will react to the environment and all the animals close to the vehicle.
With all the bookings made, I almost automatically opened the Lightroom folders with images from Zambia and my previous Kruger trip (2007). Amazing how my taste and preferences have changed over time. I tend to reopen folders like these once every year, and every time it seems there are new (old) images that have grown on me. Above is an image of a lioness (Panthera leo, Leeuw) in Zambia’s South Luangwa national park that I never bothered to process. Why? The lioness is right in the middle of the frame, the background is a little distracting and she just sits there without any interesting behavior. What I did like was the quality of the light and the fact that it only hit her face. To stress the lighting and eliminate the rest, a B&W conversion did the task. The central position of the subject now even seems to suit the image rather well. I can’t wait to go back and see what surprises Africa has to offer us this time!
Lioness; Canon 20D w. 70-200/4L and 1.4x; 1/500s at F5.6 and ISO200; beanbag
