Hyena emerging from its den

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

The little spotted hyena gave some nice photo ops while emerging from its den at Timbavati. On one evening game drive we saw at least 5-6 pups in the spotlit den and they all emerged and got curious and approached our vehicle without any fear!! This was during a morning game drive around 7am.
f/8
1/1600
ISO 800
5D III & 500 II

[Gregor Bergquist]

Hi Sanjeev.

Nice and cute portrait here. I think that maybe you could tilt the pic slightly to the right. Secondly, The Hyena have very much the same color as the background, I would try to get more contrast/separation. Maybe darken BG some.

TFS / Gregor

[Nancy Bell]

Even hyenas can look cute and cuddly! Very good posture with the head sticking out of the den and with alert ears and eyes intent on something. I quite like the detailed shadow. Would prefer less detail in the background, as Gregor noted, the hyena blends into it. If you like you could lighten the eye just a bit.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Thanks Gregor & Nancy. I wanted to show how well the hyena blends with the surroundings and the similarity in colours & tones the den shares with the animal is striking. I will try to darken the BG a bit. Appreciate your feedback & comments.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Sanjeev - Looks like this den site gets nice warm light in the morning. I like the pose with the cub actually popping out of the den. Sharpness and detail look good. The tones of the hyena seem a little flat to me. If it were mine I would give selectively give the hyena a little more pop and I would also burn the bg to create that bit of separation. It will still show how similar they are but allow the viewer to appreciate the colors and tones of the hyena a bit more.

TFS,
Rachel

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Sanjeev, agree with the others on the BG and with Rachel to give the Hyena more punch in colors and contrast. This should do already a bit more for separation the animal from BG.
love the scene, the pop up, like hey what is going on out there :))

have ve a great eve

ciao Anette