A sense of Mana

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hey everyone! Just got back from hosting a photo safari to what becomes more firmly cemented as my absolute favourite part of Africa after every visit - Mana Pools in Zimbabwe...:t3
I'll get stuck into critiquing the photos posted in my absence tomorrow, but wanted to share a quick image from our trip which included VERY close encounters on foot with elephants, photographing lions on foot and also following a feeding and interacting frenzy of a pack of 20 African Wild Dogs on foot.

This is just one of our afternoon sunsets on the floodplains along the Zambezi river. On this afternoon as the sun set in a hazy sky over the Zambezi river, our group was able to get close to a young male as he fed from the pods that are falling from the albida trees at this time of year. I let the landscape photographer in me dictate what I was doing here - working with the starburst of the sun peeping around the edge of the closest tree, and framing wide to provide a sense of context and place. For me, these images speak louder than full-frame portraits of your subject. I like the idea of reducing the animal from the main subject to just one of the elements in a scene that is all about the essence of the place you are visiting...where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. The elephant was quite close, but the focal length belies that in the distortion/perspective. Eager to hear what you think of this one? It was hazy for the first half of our trip, very hazy, thus light was low during golden hour.

Techs:
Nikon D800
Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8
Kenko Pro CPL (in hindsight I should have taken it off for better ISO, kind of forgot it was on the front of the lens :e3)
f22 | 1/160 SS | ISO-4000
Crouching, on foot
Single exposure, slight crop/rotation

[Don Railton]

Hi Morkel

Absolutely beautiful light..! I like the composition and placement of the two FG trees and the Ele. The image gives me a wonderful sense of how it might feel to be there, and I think you cannot ask much more from an image.. thanks for sharing..

DON

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Morkel - Welcome back and it sounds like a great trip. I'm looking forward to seeing your images. I am sort of torn about this image. I know what you wanted to do and probably would have tried something similar. I love the sunset colors, the inclusion of the river and the way you have used the canopy of the trees for the top of the image. The placement of the ele also is great. The reason I am torn is that I find the sunburst overpowering the ele and drawing my attention from the rest of the beautiful scene. Let's see what others say.

TFS,
Rachel

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

What a great scene, Morkel! It brings back strong memories of the scenes encountered as we've patrolled the Namibian / Angolan border in the 'good old days' (for military purposes) where all vegetation had been eaten on the ground and from the trees as high as the animals can reach, for the first kilo or two from the river. The cattle farmers staying along the river bed had to drive their cattle quite far in order to get some vegetation for their animals.

The sunburst works well for me in front of the tree but the sun itself appears just a little too bright - as if you just had to move the camera a little more to the right to cut out some excessive glare. I love the soft light overall though - it creates a nice tranquil feeling and one can almost hear the silence around you. Nice shot - well done!

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Morkel,

welcome back. Sounds that you had a great trip.
I agree with Rachel. My first thought was bring up the elle more to get the sun in the 2nd position for the attention. I assume a bit brighten it with some tweaks would do the job in this one. Somehow the elephant gets sucked into the dark areas of the trees in BG. Just my thoughts :S3:

Have a great day, looking forward to more from this trip

Ciao
Anette

[Neil Burton]

A landscape with ellie, very nice Mr E. The sun is a bit bright and that will remain my only nit.

[Marc Mol]

Love the lighting and strategically framed sun burst here Morkel all minor points aside, a classic Mana (and could well be the Luangwa valley) scene and it's no wonder we both love our respective places.:w3
TFS

[Andre Pretorius]

When I open the image, the eye jumps to brightest area,the sun. Then one notices the Ellie, and then wonders off to explore the rest of the image noticing the river, coming back to the FG.

One can not see the ellie in the thumbnail, but the starburst makes you want to open it.

Successful image Morkel, it portrays what you saw in your minds eye...

[Carl Walker]

I really like this image Morkel and I can why you went for it. You have achieved what you wanted to and it works for me. You really hate this place:t3 Look forward to more from there.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Morkel , cool animal Mana scape . Like the colors and the comp .Sun is a bit strong in the burst , but you made the most out of it.Nice overall tonality

TFS Andreas

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks for your input, folks. I do have some where the sun is totally behind the tree, and some with a smaller burst...will have a look (though I personally like this)