Black Rhino in Etosha

[Andreas Liedmann]

Photographed this Rhino at Klein Namoutoni waterhole late in the evening.Not much to see at that date, so i was happy staying in patience when the rhino appeared.Came for a drink and some sniffs in the air and ant back the same way it came.

Hope you like it , too.

Canon EOS 1D IV
EF 500 IS L
Window bracket

F8 / 1/1250sec / ISO 2500

Processed in RPP + PS slight canvas rotation + cropping to 95 % of FF

Crits appreciated , good or bad !!

Cheers Andreas

[Gregor Bergquist]

Hi Andreas
I like this very much. Really nice moment. I would really much be sitting there by the waterhole in the sunset and having a visit by that rhino. :S3: The eagle really adds something extra. I think the comp and habitat works very well. The light obviously was really nice, but is here for my taste a little too saturated. Could I suggest a little more contrast (or something) in the BG too make the trees take a little more form.

TFS, Gregor

[Giovanni Frescura]

[QVery nice light and situation. The eagle on the top is important
I like more water ..but in this case no eagle and it is better
Good !!!
Gio

[Ken Watkins]

Andreas,

You have a mighty strange set up here for a camera mounted on a window bracket, and I believe this has spoiled the image quality, high ISO's on a MkIV are in my experience not a good idea.

The reds looked quite forced and this also must be quite a large crop. A shame really as it looks like an interesting sighting.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andreas, I think Gregor has raised some good points.

Gregor I think Andreas may have run some Noise Reduction (NR) to help smooth out the BKG due to the hi ISO, have you? I would also take a look at Levels to Andreas, as I think you might need to adjust slightly. This may in turn affect the overall warmth of the image. I like the crop, placement of the subject and just enough of the water and the inclusion of all the Guinea foul is a nice addition. IQ isn't that great, but would have expected more, certainly shooting video at 1600/2000 ISO the quality has been outstanding.

Andrea, there are some additional things you can do within the MKIV when shooting in the future at hi ISO and low light to help clarity.

TFS
Steve

[Ken Watkins]

Andreas,

Whilst it is not overly clear what type of bird is perched in the tree, it does not look much like a Guinea Fowl to me, unless there is a new giant variety, possibly a Vulture?

Could you please explain why you used these settings, as I doubt you would have needed such a fast shutter speed with a firm base for your camera.

Steve,

Can you point out to all contributors what it is you suggest that may help with a MkIV at high ISO and low light?

The likelyhood of low light at this waterhole is rare in my experience, unless you are going to stay out after lock out time:w3

[Rachel Hollander]

Andreas - nice scene and good suggestions and points above.

Ken - the guinea fowl that Steve was referring to are at ground level behind and to the right of the rhino.

TFS,
Rachel

[Ken Watkins]

Ken - the guinea fowl that Steve was referring to are at ground level behind and to the right of the rhino.


So they are silly me:bg3:

Now I know where they are I have to say the likely hood of excluding them was remote:w3

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks folks for watching and commenting.
To all you guys and specialists of african birds - the bird on top is a lappet faced vulture , easy to identify by the silhouette.
Ken - Why are the settings i used with window bracket are strange ? How do you think this must be a large crop ? I stated above a slight crop ! Special Permit Ken :bg3:!

Steve - Yes NR on BG , maybe too strong, noise is very heavy on this image. Why to look at levels ?

Cheers Andreas

[Morkel Erasmus]

Lovely sighting and light!
The IQ on the rhino doesn't look too bad at this size...BG can use some more NR but also doens't look too bad IMHO.


To all you guys and specialists of african birds - the bird on top is a lappet faced vulture , easy to identify by the silhouette.


I called that one the moment I saw the image :5...



Special Permit Ken !

Where can I get one for my Etosha trip to come in 2014??? :t3

Another option is to crop out the sky entirely, Andreas? See how it looks?

[Ken Watkins]

Andreas,

So what time was the image taken?

I am still waiting for your explanation as to why you needed a such a high shutter speed when you had the camera mounted on a window bracket.

Rather than procrastinate why do you not say whether the crop is large or not?

[Morkel Erasmus]

Andreas,

So what time was the image taken?

I am still waiting for your explanation as to why you needed a such a high shutter speed when you had the camera mounted on a window bracket.

Rather than procrastinate why do you not say whether the crop is large or not?

Ken - kindly note that Andreas pointed out in his OP text that:



F8 / 1/1250sec / ISO 2500
Processed in RPP + PS slight canvas rotation + cropping to 95 % of FF

...(emphasis added)...not sure why you are confused about the crop and so insistent? :Whoa!:

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Ken,
i am an "old" man with shivering hands (tremor) :bg3: !

For you again as above crop is 95% of FF , which means i cropped it very slightly.

If i have sometimes (for other photographers) strange camera settings, that comes from the fact ( no excuse ) that i am a holiday shooter , i go once or twice a year.In some cases i become excited and forget the settings and just shoot, in other i just simply choose the wrong setting for this subject.In the end just simple faults
ending up with an not ideal image to start with for PP.In this case , if i remember correctly , i was shooting BIF before hand.But in general i tend to not think that much about the settings , just try keep the SS high. Hope that helps for clarifying.

The image was taken at 18:13:37 CET on 3rd of july 2011.

Cheers Andreas

[Ken Watkins]

Andreas,

Sorry for the confusion I did not see that, but then I missed the Guinea Fowl:t3

I take it that CET is same as West African Time but that DST was in operation in Namibia, so was it 17.13 in Namibia, and therefore around 20 minutes before sunset?

How did you get that permit?

[Andreas Liedmann]

Ken,
TOP SECRET !!!!

[Marc Mol]

All nits aside, love the comp and magic early evening light Andreas.
TFS