Elephant Herd at Sundown

[Loi Nguyen]

Image taken at Kwando Lagoon a sundown. We stopped at a distance from a water hole and were ready for a sundowner when this herd of elephants approached the water hole for a drink. Then they took the road back towards our vehicle, which was part a shot distance off the road. By then it was too dark to photograph, so we all stood there with our drinks and enjoyed the company of the herds. It was a very special moment.

1DX
70-200f2.8 II @ 115mm
1/250
f4
ISO-3200
HH

Thank you for your comments.

Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Loi, good choice in lens, like the ratio of items, composition & framing. I think you also have capture the light & atmosphere well, love the hint of warmth creeping in at the top of the frame, well handled in both capture & PP. Personally I might open the whites up to around 240 in Levels for the FG elements, but mask the sky, it just opens it up a wee bit, albeit subtle, your call. Content for me isn't that exciting, with a lot of butts etc, but I feel it's the mood more than anything that is appealing. A gentle time with elephants coming to drink at the water hole just before dark, I guess you were not the only ones to have your sundowners :bg3:.

Africa is a wonderful place!

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Loi - there's a tranquility to the scene and I can definitely picture having a sundowner while watching them. I like the gradual layers of color and the comp. Unfortunately being on the same side of the waterhole as the eles meant that you were going to mostly have the tourist view but not much you could do about that given that they came to the scene after you. I think the pp looks good here. I tried Steve's suggestion and it brings out a bit more detail in the eles but I think lessens the sunset tranquility. Purely personal choice on something like that.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

I tried Steve's suggestion and it brings out a bit more detail in the eles but I think lessens the sunset tranquility.

Hence masking the sky Rachel, as the sky has a nice colour tone to it and is very natural. :S3:

[Rachel Hollander]

Steve - When I said I tried your suggestion I included the masking the sky part, for me it still changed the mood. Just personal perception and preference.:S3:

Rachel

[Arthur Morris]

While I like the pink sky the rest does not do anything for me: too dull and the elephants are poorly juxtaposed with lots of butts..... Sometimes we fall in love with the moment and the photo.....But the viewers were not there and they did not have a drink in their hand if you know what I mean....

[Loi Nguyen]

Thank you Steve, Rachel, and Artie for your comments. I set the white point to 245. You are right that there are too many butts and other the than the pink sky, the rest does not have great appeal. It was a good feedback. Thank you. Loi

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Loi , sadly i have to say , as yourself did, pink sky is just not enough , it does sound hard ......... it is not meant that way , just being honest.

TFS Andreas

[Morkel Erasmus]

You got some great feedback already here, Loi. Agree with Steve and Artie on the poses of the elephants, although the mood is nice and I can imagine standing there with you :S3:

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Loi,

I apologise for being so late here, I admit I did look at this image the other evening and was too tired to pass a comment, I do so now if you do not mind: after much thinking - although I so loved the sky and thought it added so much to this tranquil scene, I decided to bring this image into Photoshop and take off quite a bit from the top (and therefore sacrifice the lovely sky above) - I instantly loved the pano crop and went even further by adding some more warmth to the whole image - I liked the result, not sure how much you would be prepared to go in terms of such manipulation, but this is certainly a keeper for me, well done!

Warmest regards,

[Steve Canuel]

First thing I thought when I looked at this was "Man, I bet it was nice to be there at that moment" Poses noted but my computer is full of "time & place" shots like this.

[edwardselfe]

Beautiful moment but not a great photo. I have many of these in my folders!
Ed