I took this picture at the end of the day. It was a dull day and the light was not interesting. However, I decided to come back to this spot and walk around the lions to get the better position. The sun was going down and I hoped for the lion to walk passed at the right moment. Then I saw the lion looking to the side. It stopped and in my mind, I was saying “go, go, go, just move forward, then look left, then look forward, then walk again, etc.”. I think at that moment, I was shooting at the maximum speed of my camera, hoping to get the right photo.
I had the image I wanted, but I couldn’t get it right on my computer screen; I changed the setup, the contrast and tried all other settings, but without much success. The image was there, but not as I expected. I was thinking about this image for 3 days. I fall asleep and woke up suddenly with the solution, it was a simple one, while all this time I was looking for a very complicated one.
For the last few months I have been experimenting with different solutions to get in the pictures a deep black background; it was really tough for me, as I’m not a master of Photoshop or Lightroom.
In this image I have darkened the background to give the impression that the lion was in a natural shade, then highlighted some parts around the eyes achieving as natural look as possible.
Sleepless nights always help me with solving a creative problem.
