Hippo Bubble

[Rudi van den Heever]

Canon 7D and 500mm F4 L lens

Shutter Speed 1/4000 sec
Aperture f/4
ISO 200

Burned the water and snout a bit using levels and dodged the eye and immediate area around it...

[Morkel Erasmus]

I know this spot :bg3:
Tough light well handled...and nice timing to get the bubble...
Why not crop more from the top to remove the darker band? Crop to flat pano?

[Brendon Cremer]

Great image nice detail and good timing and exposure on the hippo. Agree with Morkel, there is tad too much space in the image leaving your eyes wander around too much a more pano style crop would benefit this image greatly.

[Rudi van den Heever]

Thanks for the input guys!

Something like this...?:e3

[Morkel Erasmus]

nice repost Rudi
I'd chuck ROT out of the window here and crop some more off the top?

[Andrew Merwin]

This is a really neat behavior shot that I find so alien to me that I keep coming back to the image. I really like the muddy water, the splash & the hippo's eye. Crop is such a personal preference. I really am comfortable with the space at the top of the image.

Does this behavior have a purpose: showing dominance, mating ritual, teeth cleaning? :w3

[Brendon Cremer]

The RP crop works much better for me, tighter may work too but good for me as is now in the RP

[Rachel Hollander]

Rudi - great action and timing with the bubble. Nice low pov. I agree on still taking a little more off the top.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rudi, certainly different and not something I have witness or seen, trust you weren't down wind afterwards? :bg3:

I certainly would agree, that a tighter crop works better and going more pano (or 9 x 16), and subject to IQ, you can go tighter with less room to the RHS. In addition, with some carful work with Exposure, Highlights, Contrast I feel you can tame the bubble and splashes to bring out more depth, shape and form. By doing so it would create a unique image and emphasis this behaviour.

TFS
Steve

[Shreyas Mantri]

Nice behavioral shot, and I personally like the crop in the repost.
TFS

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rudi,
like this behavior shot a lot.
Good timing on this,RP takes it up, but with Steve`s suggestions about giving more form and depth to the mega bubble you can go even better in attraction of this very good and unique base image.

I would give it a try, think it is worth the work.

TFS Andreas

[Roman Kurywczak]

I'm with the others on a tighter crop......go figure! I love the action and perspective!