Watchful eye

I don't like out of focus foregrounds at all. I find them to be distracting and visually annoying. However, in art there are always exceptions, and this picture of a lion in South Africa is one of them. Yes, the mass of grasses in front of the cat is messy, and the one diagonal element in the immediate foreground is light and should probably be cloned out. But the fact that both the foreground and the background are soft directs our attention to that piercing eye. In addition, the eye is dead center in the frame, and while many people feel that subjects should not be composed this way, I find that the central position further draws our focus to this compelling element in the picture. Finally, the lion is enjoying a mid-day snooze, yet he is constantly vigilant with his ear at attention and that ever-watchful gaze. Capturing an intimate moment like this makes this photograph particularly engaging -- at least, that's how I see it. This image doesn't fall into the category of classically composed images, yet it's one of my favorite shots of wildlife in Africa. My settings were 1/200, f/11, 200 ISO, and I used a 500mm f/4 Canon telephoto.