Leading the way

[Shreyas Mantri]

One of my best sightings of elephants. Thirsty, with the members raising their trunks to get the whiff of water.
They appeared at the waterhole where a lioness was with 4 cubs. The lioness was already restless about 4 mins before the elephants even appeared from the thicket. The matriarch saw the lioness, stopped a couple of times before making this dash towards the water once the lioness had moved off. The atmosphere was dusty and the shot was made almost at sunset, with the sun on the LHS (of the frame).

Canon 7D, 300mm II + 2x III; f/5.6, @ 1/400s, ISO 640, EC +2/3.
Comments appreciated!

PS - The Etosha eles (and Rhinos) carry this distinctive remains of the white sand of the pan, which is quite visible on the matriarch's head etc.

[John Ippolito]

Shreyas, I like the job on the conversion, the comp works nicely for me, and I like that the dominant bright values/tones that are on the two elephants at the left - keeping the eye coming back. I would tone down down dramatically the two very bright spots in the lower left of the image, and possibly just a bit on the ear of the ele right of center. Very nice.

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Shreyas, very nice sighting. I agree with John about the ear toning down of the elephant in the center back. I even would tone down the bush in the BG.

Something like this, but would tone down more the branches contrast in the back, that they look smoother. I cleared a bit of their way and the two bright spots on the LHS. Hope you do not mind :tinysmile_shy_t:

Ciao
Anette

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Shreyas, nice composition. The jostling trunks with the baby one poking out, feet churning up the dust and the one in the BKG trumpeting. A great moment indeed.

If you have it, then a sliver more at the foot, dropping the crop down to give a darker edge across the top and a fraction off the RHS to lose the segment of ear creeping in. There is more detail you can extract from the main elephant and I do agree , tonally darkening the image does help. I would look to applying a Mid tone Luminosity layer, then two Curves adjustments for the darker mid & 3/4 tones. By doing so I think it will emphasis the dramatic image you have captured.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Shreyas - nice moment, well captured. The comp and conversion work well though my first thought was also for more room below. The darkening works but I might adjust the opacity of the effect on the ele with the raised trunk to keep it still a little lighter. Good suggestions above to take it up a notch.

TFS,
Rachel

[Marina Scarr]

Great moment captured here, and I find it quite powerful in B&W. I wouldn't have seen that little trunk poking out without reading Steve's comments. :) I find the RP even more pleasing and with even a few more tweaks, I think you are going to have a very special image here.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nice scene and direct angle here, Shreyas.
Some good points made already - given the conditions you describe, I would like to see the colour version too?
I'm leaving for Etosha in 3 hours :bg3:

[Shreyas Mantri]

Thanks for your comments, all!
Here's a RP based on your suggestions. I've tried to tone the bright ear of the ele on the back a bit so that it doesn't look unnatural. WDYT?

@ Morkel, buddy, you're in for a treat :S3:
Heard that the rains have not been so good this year, so I assume there'll be a lot of waterhole action. Maybe too late to send this, but make sure you include Okendeka (especially towards sunset as the sun sets on your back while photographing), Olifantbad, Homob, Rietfontein, Goas, Chudop (@ first light, easy commute from Namutoni) and Dik-Dik drive!
Cheers!

[Brendon Cremer]

Very nice, your RP is definitely an improvement, good detail and textures and nice conversion. Would also like to see the colour version.