Hyena Cub

[Rachel Hollander]

Gabriela has been requesting that I post a hyena cub image so here's one. We were fortunate to see a couple of different hyena dens though with this one we needed several repeat visits to find the cubs out and playing in decent light. This hyena den was in the Timbavati Game Reserve and had 3 different pairs of cubs of various ages. I think this was one of the youngest and estimated to be about 6 weeks old. S/he was pretty bold and came to check out our vehicle while chewing on a plant.

Canon 5D3
300 II
1/640
f5.6
ISO 800
HH from safari vehicle, ff, levels, curves, selective color, sharpened in CCPS.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Neil Burton]

Who says they are not cute? POV is quite high but not alot one can do about that in a jeep :) overall lovely shot of this cutie.

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Rachel,he is a cutie! Great of you to find these cubs. Good dapple light makes the image more appealing. The only thing I would wish for is a lower POV, but we all know that is not possible when you are on the safari vehicle and the cubs at eye level. Loi

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel really looking very cute when they are puppies,these beasts.
Very nice overall tones and detail in the subject.I would watch fro the blues creeping through in the fur on the back and the shaded area in the front.
But the biggest issue is the elevated POV , less than ideal for , nothing you can do about .
The whole look down makes also the animal looking odd....... my 2 cents.,

TFS Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dearest Rachel,

It gives me great joy to view this image, so Thank You from the heart!

I have to go against some of the comments above regarding POV. Sometimes shooting from above does work, at least for me. I have done quite a bit of studio work and found that shooting my subject from above ( I sometimes shot while standing at the top of a ladder) gave me quite an interesting perspective. This only happens when one's subject is looking straight into the camera, which is precisely the case here. Such a candid image of this pup, beautiful light framing its face, the stem he is chewing helps me focus on the his muzzle and eyes (is it a he or a she, I wonder?). Well processed and presented, sharp where it should be, I certainly like the perspective here and happy with this image overall - well done Rachel, thank you for sharing this, I absolutely love it!

Warmest regards,

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I agree about the shooting angle being less than ideal but think the eye contact makes up for it, at least a little. The cub approached us so I was basically shooting over the side of the vehicle and downward. As some of you correctly noted, there was nothing I could do about it.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

Very cute, Rachel! The high angle works for me here because of the direct gaze (as Gabriela mentioned).