Portrait of a young lion

I dug into my archives for this one - something basic, a simple portrait, enhanced by rim-light from the sun behind the subject.

I spent time with a local lion pride in the Savute region of the Chobe National Park back in 2011 on a commissioned visit to the lodges of Orient Express in Botswana. The pride had been resting in the shade all day, but at the end of the day, as is their nature, they started waking up for the night's activity. This youngster was intrigued by a herd of elephants who'd arrived discreetly behind us and were drinking from a standing pool of water.

Shooting portraits with rim-light from a back-lit source (the sun in this case) is quite challenging, if you are not aiming for a silhouette. You want just the right amount of detail and the rim-lighting to not be too brightly blown out. I would encourage you to practice this technique with your specific camera and lens combination as often as you can, so that you know you can nail the exposure in the field when it matters.

Techs:
Canon 7D
Canon 300mm f2.8 L IS USM
f4.0  |  1/1000 SS  |  ISO-800

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Morkel Erasmus