Orangutan posing...

[Geoff Newhouse]

This large male orang-utan was photographed in Tanjung Puting National Park, Indonesia, Borneo. He seemed to be used to the cameras. These apes are wild but they are fed at feeding stations each day to encourage their success. Some have been rehabilitated and released. Eventually some stop returning to the feeding stations and range out further into the rapidly shrinking Indonesian rainforest. Hopefully we don't loose this species due to our environmental destruction as it is an amazing animal to view.

Shot in available light, handheld, Canon 1DX, Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS II + 1.4TCIII, 98mm, f/4, 1/500, ISO 1600

[Nancy Bell]

Wow, you saw a flanged male! I see your lighting conditions were the same as I experienced in Borneo, white sky, bright sun and shadows. And since the orangutans are in the trees you are forced to point the camera up. Great capture with the arm wrapped over his head and that huge hand showing plus a great unobstructed view of the orangutan. I assume you do not have the rest of that uplifted leg to include. I would consider lifting the shadows in his face some to better see his eyes.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Geoff. I like the pose, the comp and the detail. Wish the other foot was in but no deal breaker. TFS this fine image.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Geoff -- What a pose ! you done quite well with the lighting available and certainly feel the same abt the leg which is clipped had it been there it would have been even a better image. You can slightly brighten the eyes with the dodge tool if you use photoshop.TFS !

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Geoff great pose of the Orang Utan , well handled difficult rainforest light :wave:.In a really nice world the missing foot would have been within the frame :bg3:, but just a minor thing .
Lovely details and rainforest colors , if this was mine i would drop the blues /magentas with the big boss .

TFS Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Geoff,

What a fun image of this big guy, I smiled from ear to ear when Andreas called him the "big boss"!

Well exposed under extremely difficult lighting conditions and I absolutely love the pose from the subject, I understand the difficulty you had when framing so I won't go into the "foot" issue. In terms of colour I agree with Andreas above, magenta and blue quite dominant and you can easily fix this.

I would like to see more if you have, and - since this is a threatened species - do keep one for next month's theme please:w3

Kind regards,

[Morkel Erasmus]

It's a quirky pose for sure! You handled the light as well as could be expected.
Did you take any closer shots - zoomed in more?