johnm1369 Loc: Indiana

Please critique this photo. I have a friend that is a professional and he told me it is a very poor image. Why did you take it was his comment. I don't think it is that bad, I kinda like it. Please let me know your thoughts.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

For 'analysis', you need to store that attachment for a detailed review.

Zooman 1

I like it! If you were trying to make it look like lions in the wild, it doesn't work. As a zoo animal photo it is good. the image is sharp, the lions look good, the cub looking out at something works well. In fact, if it would hold up I would crop tight on the cub's head. There is some elements in the BG, which could be distracting, but it would be minor. I am a retired zoo director, so I have seen and taken many photos of big cats in zoos, and yours is a nice photo, the b&w makes it stand out.

johnm1369 Loc: Indiana

Re-submitted.

(Download)

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

As it is posted I can't see anything wrong with it , It would be better if the Lioness was looking at you or the cubs.
I think its a fine image for what it is!! Tell your friend to pound salt where the sun don't shine.

luvmypets Loc: Born & raised Texan living in Fayetteville NC

Nice photo of a very beautiful and majestic lioness and her adorable cub!

Like CHG_CANON I would like to be able to download it and have a look at some of the features. Did you ask your friend exactly what he meant? It's not a bad image and consider that you are at a zoo where you probably don't have a lot of room to move around and you certainly can't move objects out of the way. Sometimes you take the shot to capture a special moment that may not happen again.

Compositionally, you have 3 lions so that covers the odd number rule. The cub is the main subject with mom being a major part of the scene. There is a triangle of the three heads plus you have the strong leading line of mom's neck taking the eye to the cub plus the curve of her back leg also leading to the cub. There is nice texture in the bark of the posts forming the surrounding.

If you can take this to Photoshop and remove the branch that runs parallel to mom's back, the one sticking out of lion #3's ears, the one across the corner, the tree coming out of mom's neck and the one in front of mom's nose it would eliminate those little oddities that are considered annoying.

Without seeing the downloadable version I can't really tell where your focus point is and the wood the surrounding along with the cub's paw appear to be in sharp focus with the cubs head and mom being in acceptable focus. Ideally, the nearest eye of the cub would be where you would want the sharp focus and depending on your lens focal length and f stop how much else is in acceptable focus. If you focused on the cub's eye then you may want to put your camera and lens through the auto fine tune routine (Nikon) to see if your focus is hitting where it should. If you have done this previously, I would check it again just to be sure.

I really like the B&W conversion as it brings the attention to the beauty of these majestic cats!

Ultimately, the only thing that matters is what you think of the photo! If you like it then it doesn't matter what anyone says, enjoy it. If you are trying to improve your photography then the advice you receive in this post will certainly help and give you options of things to try next time.

Hope this helps!

Dodie

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I have no idea what your friend was criticizing. Possibly, you'd need to ask them directly. The middle lion looking at the camera would be better, something you might have to wait minutes / longer to maybe happen, but that doesn't make this one a failure. Thanks for reposting for a closer look at the image and the EXIF.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I also don't see anything radically wrong with it. Maybe it's not "great", but it's a nice shot of the cats relaxing.

I would have preferred to see the lioness and her cub in more natural settings. (It is obviously a captive animal shot.)

I agree with Frank, too, would have been better if one or all three had been looking at you. I didn't even realize initially that there was a second cub behind the lioness, looking the opposite direction.

Also a bit of fill flash would have helped. It would add a "catch light" in the animals' eyes. That makes them look more animated... more "alive". A low-powered flash doesn't change much else, but can add that little "spark" to the eye that makes a big difference.



Dodie makes some very good points, too. Especially that last one... If you are happy with the image, that's all that really matters.

An interesting thing about the "odd number rule"... It can depend upon where you're shooting. In Bali, Indonesia photographing people in groups of three is frowned upon, they would try to avoid it happening and would never display an image with a grouping of three people. The reason is religious. They pray to a number of gods, but there are three primary deities. A group of three people is seen as blasphemous.

johnm1369 Loc: Indiana

That,,,,,,, is really good stuff. Never heard of the odd number rule. Will research it to become better informed.

wetreed

It’s not a bad picture. You tell your friend to pound sand.

luvmypets Loc: Born & raised Texan living in Fayetteville NC

An interesting thing about the "odd number rule"... It can depend upon where you're shooting. In Bali, Indonesia photographing people in groups of three is frowned upon, they would try to avoid it happening and would never display an image with a grouping of three people. The reason is religious. They pray to a number of gods, but there are three primary deities. A group of three people is seen as blasphemous.[/quote]

That was my "you learn something new everyday" for today. Thanks for sharing!

Dodie

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

One corrupts.
Two divides.
Three provides balance.

luvmypets Loc: Born & raised Texan living in Fayetteville NC

Thank you for downloading the photo.

The only thing I'm not sure is where you focused but mom, cub and wooden surround all seem to be in decent focus. The lack of "tack sharpness" could be camera movement if it were handheld or the need of a smaller f-stop to have more depth of field and to dial in the "sweet spot" for the lens you are using.

Personally, I like the photo and love how majestic mom is; that would change if she were looking at you. The cub is adorable and you have to wonder what caught his attention.

I would really be interested in finding out what your friend feels this is a poor image. If you find out please PM me if you don't want to share here. I always like to view a photo from someone else's perspective; it improves my photography.

Dodie

J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio

Jerry G Loc: Waterford, Michigan and Florida

I think your friend was pointing out that he's a professional and you're not.