Lion Cub - extreme conditions

Hmmm, an image i am still 'proud' of to some extent but also one that i should have captured better - does make me realise that either i am now a better tutor than i was a student, or that i am simply a better tutor than my own mentor.

Here, the conditions forced me to decide - do i settle for an image with noise (3200 ISO) or simply not take the image?

In a controlled environment where it could be repeated the following day / week / month then that is not a massive issue but here with a potential 'once in a lifetime' opportunity - and this being the very first sighting of a lion, let alone a cub, on
our very first game drives i determined that a bit of noise may be acceptable. Here the shutter is technically too slow for the lens focal length, and i would say a little slow for most wildlife - so that was a bit of a gamble.

Of course if i had been tutored marginally more in depth i would have dropped my EC to gain a better speed rather than risk blur, or even then used that additional speed to drop the ISO to 1600 to reduce noise.

Brand:	Canon
Lens:	500.0-500.0 mm
Recording media:	JPEG (digital)
Date Taken:	3 Oct 2008 - 4:02 PM
Focal Length:	500mm
Aperture:	f/4.0
Shutter Speed:	1/160sec
Exposure Comp:	0.0
ISO:	3200
Exposure Mode:	Aperture-priority AE
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
Flash:	No Flash
White Balance:	Manual

Title:	Lion Cub - extreme conditions
Username:	philhomer
Uploaded:	15 Jan 2013 - 7:23 AM
Tags:	Africa, Kenya, Lion, Lion cub, Wildlife / nature
VS Mode Rating	101 (66.67% won) These stats show the percentage of wins and the rating score that your photo has achieved. You can go to the VS Mode by clicking on this icon. Signup to e2 Signup to e2 to see which photo this has won or lost against in the vs mode
Votes:	12