Elephants in Gold

[Morkel Erasmus]

I had a look at my postings and realised with a shock that I've never posted this photo on BPN.
Smack me on the palm, please! :t3

From that glorious morning in the forests of Mana Pools, back in July 2012.
I know it'll be tight on the sides for some - I cropped out the butt of another elephant on the LHS and then cropped a bit from the RHS to make the space between the elephants and the edges equidistant.
Your thoughts most welcome! :S3:

For those interested, I posted my own "best of 2013" selection on my blog: http://saffascapes.blogspot.com/2014/01/moments-of-marvel-in-2013.html

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f5.6 | 1/640 SS | ISO-1600
EV -0.7
90% of FF image
Handheld, crouching, on foot...:2eyes2:

[Marc Mol]

Superb lighting Morkel, :5 yes a little tight for me but understand why, would have preferred not to have the branch coming out against the forehead, .......but hey what can one do.
TFS

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Morkel - lovely light. Of course you expect me to be one of the ones to say it's a tad too tight for me and it is, but understand your explanation. Marc's point about the branch placement is a good one.

TFS,
Rachel

[dankearl]

This is an "almost" for me Morkel.
Light is superb, branch is unfortunate.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks folks.
Funnily enough the branch doesn't bother me - it's actually a huge one the big bull had taken down while standing on his hind legs as we approached this scene. They proceeded to strip it of leaves for about 20 minutes before he moved to the next tree to repeat the process.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Love that thread of golden light on the back of the main ellie, Morkel-it's magic! Not too tight for me, I like it as is. Would love to have this on film, sounds and all:S3: A beauty - congratulations !

Warmest regards,

[Tom Graham]

Very nice. How did you determine the white balance for the image?
(Always a problem for me with such lighting, I just go with what I like).
Tom

[Loi Nguyen]

Morkel, this is a lovely image in gorgeous light. I'm amazed that you had both elephants in sharp focus at f5.6. It's a bit tight, but we have all been there before and there isn't much you can do about another butt. Since you have more room on the RHS, I think a little more room there may actually help with the image appearing not so tight. The branch coming out of the big eke is just a little distracting, especially now that Marc mentioned it. Before I was drawn more by the light and how perfect the exposure was balanced thruout the scene. TFS. Loi

[edwardselfe]

Like it a lot - agree with Loi that adding back that small amount on the rhs would help, even if it wasn't equal with the other side. As always, if only that branch hadn't been there, but it's still a beautiful scene. Like the interest of the main bull who is in process of stripping Winterthorn leaves from the branch.
Ed

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Superb image Mork, love the light here and the comp works for me. TFS.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Morkel,
great light and perfect colors with a nice subject , really like the elephant in the BG ,is adding a lot to the frame.
Personally i would go darker in the elephants , for a backlight shot the elephants are too light , just for my taste.The LHS and RHS are too tight , even if you have your reasons for going for this crop, plus the Unicorn is kind of distracting , it all just me thinking this way.

Still a great scene and think you can do some tweaks , but understand your points why you did stuff your way.

Cheers Andreas

[BenBotha]

Perfect light, the second ellie just add the extra special ingredient. I agree with the above comments.Pity about the branch-maybe - call it the Unichorn and Elephant. Just joking!

Ben

[Markus Hanika]

Hi Morkel,

someone really would have had to slap you if you wouldn't have shown the image ;-)
Very nice setting and beautiful light.
A bit more space around would be better but it's yet too close.
The branch is also distracting me - looks like the Eli has another trunk or a horn. At the second look i felt the bump in the foreground could be removed.
Still an image i could see hanging on the wall.

Markus

[Dvir Barkay]

This is a real beauty Morkel! The golden light makes this one, as well as the other elephant that just balances the composition for me. The elephant on the right is just a bit tight, but when the photo/sunjects is/are this beautiful I really don't care.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks for the varied feedback everyone.
Tom - I also go with what I like and how I remember the "mood" of the light/scene.