The original idea was to get a backlit lion at night. We got lucky with the torrential rains. The spotlight from the other vehicle lit up the lion perfectly, but the real bonus was the heat emanating from the lion’s back and the heat from the ground that gave it a surreal, almost vintage look. The camera struggled in the very low light. Rain poured into the vehicle, drenching us completely, making it very hard to see and very hard to keep the camera and lens dry enough. Nothing has been added or removed from this image. It is a real image with usual edits for contrast, sharpness and noise reduction.

By Shravan Rao in aid of Mara Conservancy