Tag: THANDA

On my way home last night, I encountered two Lionesses. They were inspecting all the various game on a open savanna with great interest. From their appearance, I could tell that their stomachs were quite empty, so I concluded that they were actually hunting.

From their shaded position upwind, they must have been quite invisible to the Giraffes, Zebras, Wildebeest, Nyalas, and Impalas. On occasion, some of them looked straight towards the two cats but did not see them.

I stayed with them for about ninety minutes until the sun had set.

Unfortunately, their patience was not rewarded that evening. As they approached a Zebra very carefully, a nearby Nyala bull spotted them and gave an alarm call. All the prey animals immediately retreated to a safe distance, and the Lionesses moved on to try somewhere else.

Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f4-6.3/24-240mm | ISO 800 | 1/500sec | f6.3 | ev+0 | 240mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Crop to 60% of original image

If you want to read more of my stories and see more of my pictures, you should visit my blog at https://sperka.info/blog/

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

When a pride of lions has many juvenile members, the experienced Lionesses often leave them for a while to attempt hunting on their own.

Especially young male Lions regularly “mess up” a hunt by being too obvious and/or too clumsy.

In this picture, a Lioness returned to the pride from such an unsuccessful outing, and all the youngsters ran enthusiastically to greet her.

A moment after this image was taken, they complained (moaned) to mum about being hungry.

And a few minutes after that, a dazzle of Zebras walked by, and the whole pride (8 lions) tried to catch one of them, again with no success.

As it got very warm at the time, they all decided to settle down in the shade of a tree and try their luck again in the evening.

A great experience for the guests on my vehicle!

Technical data: Canon R6 with RF lens f4-6.3/24-240mm | ISO 1250 | 1/3000 sec | f6.3 | EV +0 | 150mm | WB 6500K | AV Mode | Cropped to 25% of the original image

If you would like to read more of my stories and see more of my pictures, you should visit my blog at https://www.sperka.com

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography

When I sent this picture (which I took this evening on my way home) to a friend, he responded with ‘this is Photoshop, isn’t it’.

Well, the answer is that it is not! Our dominant male lion raised his head from sleeping just as the sun had set. I was in the right place at the right time!

This picture was taken with my iPhone 14 Pro Max and was edited with the standard iPhone tools.

Here are the steps taken:

1 – The picture was first cropped to 9:16 (portrait).

Steps: Photos, Select Picture, Edit, Crop, Pre-Sets, 9:16, Portrait, Zoom In, Done.

2 – Then the shadows were brightened as much as possible.

Steps: Photos, Select Picture, Edit, Adjust, Shadows, +100, Done.

3 – A slight vignette (darken the ‘frame’) was then added.

Steps: Photos, Select Picture, Edit, Adjust, Vignette, +10(black), Fine.

I have also posted the original image so you can see the difference to the edited version.

Technical data: Apple 14 Pro Max | Main Camera 24mm | ISO 64 | 1/350sec | f1.8 | ev+0 | 48mm

#amazingwildlife #africansafari #safarigetaway #christiansperkaphotography #thandasafari #big5 #gamereserve #wildlifephotography #learnphotography