Lyin' Lionsby
sulamkComment by frisca: Sandy,
Hello from the Critique Club! :)
I enjoyed this shot during voting, and am pleased to be able to expand on my initial comments.
Composition
Concentrating on how you decided to place these two lions within your frame, I applaud your choice to use a portrait set up. I think its a creative choice that adds a sense of intimacy to the shot, as if we're looking in on these two lions and their private lives, rather than just a shot from the window of the safari tour bus! I appreciate these weren't exactly co-operative and willing models, but if the lion had his head turned just a bit more toward you, it would have matched the lioness without giving away the aloofness of his pose.
I find the crop to be a little tight, as I want something more to the left of the frame and a tiny bit more space above the lion's head. I think the lioness is fine with just her upper body in the shot, but the lion is cut off at a strange part of his body and it makes it seem as if we're missing something important in his pose.
HOWEVER, for a harsher crop, you could cut the lion out all together and get a very interesting shot with just the lioness with green grass behind her and the red earth underneath, since she is the most infocus item in the shot.
Color
There are a lot of similar edgy golden tones in this shot, from the dirt to each of the beast's hair, even the grass is has a harsh brownish tone. Perhaps a bit more saturation would leave the grass looking a little more lush (though I recognize that it was probably pretty dry out there)? In the end, I have to say that the colour seems pretty "on" for a picture of two lions in the savanna on a very sunny day. The redness of the earth by the lioness clinches the colour issue for me.
Focus
This is something that a few of the comments touched on. The whole shot seems soft, with really only the lioness' face at sharpness I would consider "in focus." As suggested, a greater DOF might have helped, or if you were closer to your subject (haha!). I don't know if you can control your aperture settings, I suspect not, so don't take comments about DOF too much to heart on this particular shot, the thing I'd try to do, is understand what your camera's range is for how much it can keep in focus depending on things like the lighting and whether you are using zoom, and create your compositions within those boundaries.
If you're having to use "digital zoom" for a shot or you were very far away from your subject and you cropped and used photoshop to get a bigger picture, I'd suggest you interpolate in small increments, I think there is a tutorial on this topic that is very helpful. If not, nevermind all this!
Lighting
Its an extremely bright and sunny day, and that has really impacted the feel of this picture. There are shadows below the lion's face and at the left side of the lioness which might have been more muted had you taken this shot later in the day, but I appreciate that you are restricted to zoo hours and get your shot of creatures as you can!
Subject matter
I love lions, being a Leo myself, but you really took this up a notch by including both a lion and a lioness and capturing them in a natural setting without any wires or fence in the way.
Overall
Overall, I liked this picture a lot, you certainly met the challenge. I thought your composition choice was refreshing, and I like the feeling this shot creates. The colours and focus especially could have been improved upon to really bring this picture to life.
Message edited by author 2003-05-05 19:40:19. 
Photographer found comment helpful.