Hippo Dozers

[Morkel Erasmus]

I'm back from an epic safari to the Mara Triangle for the Great Migration. Yet to work through the images, so here's one for the theme from the Chobe river ecosystem.
Photographed mid morning from a specialised photographic boat, March 2014.

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
1.4x teleconverter
f11 | 1/1250 SS | ISO-1250

[Marc Mol]

Welcome back!

I'm liking the comp and low POV here Morkel with that moody B&W toned sky, although I'm seeing some halos on both hippos, an easy fix.

TFS

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Awesome toning here Morkel. Love the comp and pose of the hippos. Cant wait to see your latest Mara images!

[haseeb badar]

Hi Morkel -- Superb image ! Loved the mood here , very nicely done . I too am eager to see your images from Mara triangle !

TFS !

[Mike Poole]

Another great use of the landscape Morkel, always inspiring - if only Manchester had such scenery!

The important part of the shot for me is not so much the hippos themselves, although they are giving a nice split pose, but the brighter line across the top of the grasses. Without that I think much of the BG would merge in together, and this provides a nice layers separation.

Mike

[Kalin Botev]

This is another great one Morkel! I like the way you play with light. There is so much mood in this picture. Thanks for sharing!
Kalin

[Andrew McLachlan]

Very nicely done Morkel...I like the B&W too and that we can see some of the surrounding landscape.

[Steve Kaluski]

Nice to see a Hippo here Morkel. Very much like framing and the position/placement of the subject, but again, was the sky that moody, or a bit of artistic license here? :S3:

TFS
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks folks!
Steve, the clouds were light blue and pretty much just used a specific colour filter in conversion to tonally separate the layers and the hippos.
I might post the colour version sometime, also a pleasing shot. :S3:

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Morkel - Nice to see the hippos out of the water and I like both their position in frame and positions against each other. The conversion works well. Agree about the halos.

TFS,
Rachel

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Morkel,

This frame appeals to me tremendously, I like the mood but also positioning of subjects in the frame, very aesthetically pleasing.
Well processed. Really perfect timing, the threatening look you captured from those two hippo is awesome, heads down and looking down the river for potential threats, nice work my friend:cheers:

Kind regards,