Big and Small, there's room for all

[Morkel Erasmus]

Funny how certain photos take a couple of years to jump out at you. I took this in 2013 in Etosha, and never looked twice at it until this weekend...

Don't you just love the size difference here? A massive giraffe bull and a petite springbok ewe quench their thirst at sunset in the Etosha National Park, Namibia.
And no - I couldn't reposition to separate the head of the giraffe and the springbok as I was crouching down on foot, and the slightest movement made the animals at the waterhole scuttle and spook :tinysmile_shy_t:.


Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f5.0 | 1/400 SS | ISO-900

[Marc Mol]

Love the lighting, low POV and comp here Morkel, just would have wished for more DOF to have both sharp as you had plenty ISO at your disposal :w3

TFS

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Morkel. I like the image a lot. Amazing to see the size difference and the drinking behaviour adds a lot to it & the way the share the same waterhole without ant qualms. Nice light and angle too.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Back/side lighting has been so well handled here. I like it.... it tells a wonderful story

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Morkel - This works very nicely. Beautiful light, nice tones and great low pov. I agree with Marc on the dof but not a deal breaker by any means.

TFS,
Rachel

[christopher galeski]

nice image,good POV,love the light,and the difference in animal sizes.TFS.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Morkel, you have an eye for the unusual, I like that:)

And I really like this waterhole because it looks so natural - did you notice that lately, when they fix waterholes in the KTP, they add those unsightly rocks and the animals dissapear behind them when they drink? Makes it really difficult for photographers to get those lovely images of animals drinking.

I would love to see Etosha, this image makes me want to go there:) good POV and your FP must have been on the giraffe, the bokkie is a tad softer but no deal breaker for me, just an observation and I like this as is. The light is golden and makes this scene so attractive to view, looks like it is such an effort for a giraffe to drink - adding a behavioural aspect makes this image even more special, thank you Morkel:cheers:

Warmest regards,

[D. Robert Franz]

Love the visual here! Great late afternoon light. Gazelle a bit out of the focus plane but still works. Sometimes it pays to go back through your files to find hidden gems!

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Morkel, lovely setting with some 'cool' light. Agree that having more DoF would really take this up a notch and with something like this you should post bigger, it does make all the difference IMHO.

TFS
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks for your thoughts, folks.
Not sure why I didn't try with more DOF at the time, too long ago, but I think this moment was a tad fleeting as the springbok finished up and moved off...:e3

[Steve Canuel]

Nice display of the size difference and I like the lighting/color. Can't recall ever seeing an image of the giraffe's front legs slightly bent like this while drinking.