Reaching for Trees

[Morkel Erasmus]

On our recent Great Migration safari we found a giraffe bull moving through the savanna.
I was able to predict that it would move into this clump of trees given the general direction and pace of movement - and hope it would indulge us by browsing from them.
The old boy performed very well and my guests and I were able to capture some iconic scenic images, despite the bright and somewhat harsh light.

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II @ 160mm
Circular Polariser
f7.1 | 1/800 SS | ISO-720

[haseeb badar]

Hi Morkel -- A very nice perspective and nice conversion too . The Giraffe chewing the leaves is certainly the main element here and i liked that part in this image. I would have preferred the lower portion of Giraffe a bit toned down looks too bright . TFS !

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Morkel i just simply love this "artsy" image of yours :wave:
Superb lineup of the Accacia trees to the RHS and the feeding giraffe bull as the great anchor point .Well seen and executed in the field .I quite like the high key conversion !!!
I can see an infrared version :S3:

TFS Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

I love it, Morkel! Screams for a print:)

Well seen, anticipated, and captured, beautiful conversion and the presentation is superb:cheers:

Show me Mara in 2017:tinysmile_shy_t: I will take along my 70-200, bought it a year ago and hardly ever used it. I am certain you can teach me a thing or two, and get me out of my "box", LOL!

Warmest regards,

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Morkel, the perspective works oh so well here and agree with Andreas about the Giraffe. Perhaps the laptop/scale/size doesn't quite convey the hi key that well (?) so I'm not 100% on the choice of medium here and therefore I may prefer the more conventional approach, but always worth the punt :S3:.

TFS
Steve

[Marc Mol]

Love the overall comp and framing here Morkel, well documented.

Like Steve, I'm not too enamoured with the conversion here, to me this seems like a cross between infared and HK and just falling short on this for mine, is it the sky perhaps? sorry buddy.

[Steve Kaluski]

Perhaps Marc it the strong contrast between the Blacks & Whites with minimal mid contrast, WDYT????

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Great scene here Mork, love the landscape and the tall giraffe. I'd love to see the colour version of this! Well seen and framed!

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks for all the kind feedback, folks.

Steve & Marc - quite happy with my conversion here as I went high key for the FG but liked that the sky left some shade of grey to even out the tonal contrast across the range. I will play around with many more shots taken during this sighting, and perhaps go total high key high contrast on another one and post it.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Morkel - Well anticipated and executed. I like the high key look to the grass. The only thing that I would perhaps look at is the tone of the giraffe, and might burn the highlights of the giraffe a bit more, particularly the rump.

TFS,
Rachel

[Marc Mol]

Perhaps Marc it the strong contrast between the Blacks & Whites with minimal mid contrast, WDYT????

Good point Steve, I'm in agreement here :w3

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Morkel

Well planned image!
The Giraffe grabs the eye, then the Acacias leads you deeper in the image.
Comp works well.
I would like the anchor to be a bit more dominant- more contrast and selective sharpening?