Lost innocence

Another image from the pride I spent time with, however that - 'oh so cute, can I have one, please can I tickle his tummy', now shows a different side - the born killer!!! 

With blood stained face and paws from gorging on the Warthog kill, this cub just laid in the shade quietly digesting his meal, occasionally washing and then being stalked every now and then by his brothers & sisters. 

Being in the thicket the shade also challenged any available light, but the 1DX's just delivered no problem, however, it was also really hard to get any good angles where OOF leaves, branches etc were not in the way, although I feel I managed to avoid things fairly well, with main elements - the eyes being free of any distracting items.  

I thought about cropping about an inch off the foot so the paw gave the impression of resting on the trim, but I quite like it as presented.

Thanks to those who viewed or posted a comment on the previous thread.

Steve

Subject: Blood stained cub (Panthera leo)
Location: Botswana
Camera: Canon 1DX MKI
Lens: 500 f/4MKII with 1.4MKIII HH
Exposure: 1/1600s at f/5.6 ISO6400 EV +0.33
Original format: Portrait, very small crop on the sides FF top/bottom
Processed via: LRCC & PSCC2017