Suckling Thornicroft's Giraffe

[edwardselfe]

Nice morning light the other day when I was out - it's been overcast a lot recently so it was nice to have the golden light back - and we found giraffes all over the place just inside the park. I missed this female greeting her youngster (I was still getting my camera off my lap after parking in the right place!) but was chuffed when she started to suckle the calf. I'd parked at a good distance for my guests with 300mm lenses, but was struggling with my 500mm until she reached round to check on the youngster. No more space around the edge, but was just happy to fit the image in!

Any comments welcome.

Thanks,

Ed

1D4, 500mm f4 @ f4, ISO 800, 1/4000sec

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Ed, lovely image, great light, love the catchlight in the calf's eye.

Shame about the space either side, is this therefore FF?

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Ed - beautiful moment in great light. Agree with Steve, catchlight is nice. Tightness doesn't bother me much here because of intimateness of moment. I would love to have this image in my files. Well done.

TFS,
Rachel

[edwardselfe]

Very nearly full-frame. I think I cut a bit off the bottom because I thought there was a little too much foreground....only a centimetre or so.
Ed

[edwardselfe]

Very nearly full-frame. I think I cut a bit off the bottom because I thought there was a little too much foreground....only a centimetre or so though.
Ed

[Marc Mol]

Ah yes the joys of a 500 prime lens :w3....................we all have our crosses to bear.:bg3: Know the feeling on this one Ed.
Love the lighting and the curling neck of an intimite mother, nice catchlight on the youngster.
TFS

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Edward,

agree with Rachel, would love to have that on my hard drive as well :bg3:
Beautiful light and all around.
Guess there comes the Fiat 500 ( 200-400 & 1.4 ) very handy :tinysmile_shy_t:

Have a great eve

Ciao
Anette

[Carl Walker]

Great shot Ed with lovely light

[Gabriela Plesea]

This is such a beautiful, tender moment, Edward! I love the golden light and there's lots of detail on the youngster, the little oxpeckers a bonus! I do not mind the tightness here one bit, nothing to distract the eye from this lovely intimate scene.

Kind regards,

[Hilary Hann]

What a gorgeous image, love the calf with the oxpeckers and the light in the eye. Even the shadow on the adult adds a natural vignette to the calf drinking. Beautiful work.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

You did very well to both of them in and still framed it nicely. The light is great, the colours pleasing, nice BG and the catch light is nice TFS.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Edward,
it is all coming together, the light , the intimate moment, beautiful colors, PP work.

Like this a lot ,:cheers:.

A bit more space all around would be a tad better for me.

TFS Andreas

[Morkel Erasmus]

Great image quality, dappled light and moment here Ed! Given the limited space on the sides I would crop tighter from the top?
:5

[edwardselfe]

Hi all,

Many thanks for great ideas and kind comments. I'm really happy that you all like this one too. (Sometimes I really like an image and then it doesn't work for other people - it's good to get that feedback but it shows how subjective it all is!). I will try a crop from the top as that could work really well, and I'm sad that I don't have a little more space all around, but just glad to have got anything good in the situation.

Thanks everyone.

Ed

[Steve Kaluski]

Ed - There is always next time, you have a great back yard to work in!

[Rudi van den Heever]

Hi Edward! The "tightness" does not bother me at all! Great detail, clarity and colors!:S3: