Stepping out

Everyone dreams of coming on safari and potentially seeing lion cubs. In this case, “a dream come true” for a few guests that were on safari while staying at Bush Lodge.

Not only did these guests accomplish a dream of theirs, but I am very sure that the expectation was over achieved. Three six-week old lion cubs and their mother were leaving their den site for the very first time. The mother slowly moved over an open area away from the den site with all three cubs, a task that can be very difficult as these cubs were moving in all directions amongst the very long grass due to the season. The ability to spend some time with such small cubs, allowing full respect to them and the mother without any risk to the cubs, was a special occasion that not only will my guests cherish forever, but as well as myself.

Seeing lion cubs is one thing, but seeing them for the first time as they start their venture into the social association of the pride, is a moment all on my vehicle on that particular morning will or are holding close to their heart for the rest of their lives. Truly a special day with a special reward, one I will never forget.

Equipment used:

• Camera – Canon 600D
• Lens and Focal length – Canon-EF100-400mm f-4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 260mm

Settings used to capture this image:

• ISO – 400 as the light was intense due to the time period being mid-morning and the light was increasing, however this is quite high in order to create an idea of the sunlight rays capturing the fluffy fur of the lion cub.
• Aperture of 5.6 in order to create great detail on the subject (lion cub) and try to minimise the detail of the background and the vegetation/grass stalks as the object (lion cub) was of a small size and therefore more detail was needed to best represent the photograph.
• 1/500 shutter speed, which is a low shutter speed for an action moving shot during the mid-morning light, but allows the perfect capture of light as the Lion cub was in a very shaded area moving along the grass line on the road with small rays of light capturing the object (lion cub.)

Editing used on this image:

The editing I carried out for this image was minimal as most of the settings used portrayed the image I had in my head. I did however increase the contrast to allow for the small golden rays of sunlight that brightened the lion cub and for a darker shadow of the grass line running along the road. I also increased the clarity so the detail of the lion cub’s fur was clearly visible down to nearly each and every grass seed stuck on its coat.