Gabriela Plesea
06-16-2015, 03:16 PM
Hello Friends,
Nothing more frustrating for a photographer than being too far...Well, in this case, too close...and then too far....and then too close again!
Found myself surrounded by a herd of Cape Buffalo this afternoon, my D4 gone to Nikon for dusting up and I was left with my D3S as well as a DF from Nikon who were so kind to loan me a backup camera. I joined this new, sexy, retro looking DF with my 70-200 but kept switching between the 500 and the 300 on the D3S instead and yep, I agree, this image shows, I was not fast enough...I was either too close or too far for what I wanted to achieve.
As soon as I clicked the 500 on the D3S this oxpecker landed on the buffalo's face, I quickly took a few frames and then increased aperture but it was too late, the bird had flown away. Back with the 300 F2.8 but by that time my Oxpecker landed on another buffalo, again all too far so I was back with the 500 F4...
Eventually I gave up... I miss my other body (D4) tremendously but it will be back soon, hopefully before the week-end when we are going to spend the night in the Hluhluwe/Umfolozi Game Reserve. The Park is dry and there's little water available and the animals seem rather tense - good for photography because it appears there's more action than usual, at the same time I wish for rain to get the vegetation growing again. We need a flood for the river to come alive.
So here it is, I do like the content of this image and the rich colours but before you point it out to me, not enough DOF. I do have other images from this sighting but somehow I chose to experiment on this one, loved the golden light and the situation with the Oxpecker so persistent at getting a tick out of the eye of the Buffalo. Hope you find this interesting enough to view, I expect some harsh critique from the Nitpickers but as you know I love to tell stories, so here's the image to go with it.
Africa is still an amazing place despite its problems, and I love to seek refuge in the local Game Reserve just about every week-end...there I can find some time to enjoy nature and think about the impact us humans have on the environment. Those places are sacred to me, and so special.
Nikon D3S
Nikon 500 mm F4
ISO 2000
F5.6
1/800s
Wishing you a great rest of the week,
Nothing more frustrating for a photographer than being too far...Well, in this case, too close...and then too far....and then too close again!
Found myself surrounded by a herd of Cape Buffalo this afternoon, my D4 gone to Nikon for dusting up and I was left with my D3S as well as a DF from Nikon who were so kind to loan me a backup camera. I joined this new, sexy, retro looking DF with my 70-200 but kept switching between the 500 and the 300 on the D3S instead and yep, I agree, this image shows, I was not fast enough...I was either too close or too far for what I wanted to achieve.
As soon as I clicked the 500 on the D3S this oxpecker landed on the buffalo's face, I quickly took a few frames and then increased aperture but it was too late, the bird had flown away. Back with the 300 F2.8 but by that time my Oxpecker landed on another buffalo, again all too far so I was back with the 500 F4...
Eventually I gave up... I miss my other body (D4) tremendously but it will be back soon, hopefully before the week-end when we are going to spend the night in the Hluhluwe/Umfolozi Game Reserve. The Park is dry and there's little water available and the animals seem rather tense - good for photography because it appears there's more action than usual, at the same time I wish for rain to get the vegetation growing again. We need a flood for the river to come alive.
So here it is, I do like the content of this image and the rich colours but before you point it out to me, not enough DOF. I do have other images from this sighting but somehow I chose to experiment on this one, loved the golden light and the situation with the Oxpecker so persistent at getting a tick out of the eye of the Buffalo. Hope you find this interesting enough to view, I expect some harsh critique from the Nitpickers but as you know I love to tell stories, so here's the image to go with it.
Africa is still an amazing place despite its problems, and I love to seek refuge in the local Game Reserve just about every week-end...there I can find some time to enjoy nature and think about the impact us humans have on the environment. Those places are sacred to me, and so special.
Nikon D3S
Nikon 500 mm F4
ISO 2000
F5.6
1/800s
Wishing you a great rest of the week,