First taste

[Morkel Erasmus]

An elephant cow leads her young calf to the waters of the Chobe river for a drink.
The calf is so young it doesn't have mastery of its trunk yet, and has to dip its face into the water to drink with its mouth.
Photo taken from a boat, lying on the floor with lens over the rim of the boat.

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f8.0 | 1/1250 SS | ISO-560

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Morkel, I often find it difficult to photograph such a baby elephant since he/she sticks to Mom like glue and the size difference makes it hard for a crop. Lovely sighting of the baby. I feel the frame a bit tight, but not sure if there is other viable option. Saw your pic at the Remembering Elephant exhibit ins. Loi London 2 weeks ago. Congrats. Loi

[haseeb badar]

Hi Morkel -- The low angle really works here , nice light and techs too look good , but considering the boat i might have upped the ss a bit more . The elephant calf as young as this is such fun to photograph and witnessing their behaviour is altogether a different experience . Nice image and TFS !

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Morkel, a nice, fun image with the 'playful' youngster, eager to get into the water it seems.

Agree with Loi, any more space above/to the left, just raising the lens up & slightly to the left I think would have helped, still retaining a depth of water, but not cramping the adult. Also, if you were not using the 'Pangolin' boat, then certainly agree with Haseeb in cranking up the ISO for a faster SS to reduce any movement of others.

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Morkel ... always great to watch and photograph the youngsters ... so playful .
Good POV and i like the overall pleasing color/ tone contrast . Lovely detail in the skin of the Ellies .
At this size i think the sharpness is ok , picking up the SS suggestion by Haseeb , but he might be right when you want to be on the safe side . And i guess you could have cranked up the Iso with no issue .
I do agree that the top is a bit tight to the subject , but think with the 500 sometimes difficult to get all in and have still some room to play ,

Nice one Morkel

TFS Andreas

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Mork, this is really nice. Love the little one with the trunk extended & tail stretched out. Great low angle and details.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Morkel - I saw a couple of youngsters who could not control their trunk. Always good for a bit of comic relief. Nice low pov and textures. I too wish for a bit more room but not a deal breaker. Looks like the light was a bit harsh but handled well. My rule of thumb on a boat is to try to have a minimum ss of 1/1600.

TFS,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions folks.
I do have a tad more space but cropped this way to focus attention and remove some elements/bushes that I deemed as distracting.
The guests with me were on mounted seats with gimbals, I just opted to try a low angle here and sharpness is good at full resolution - but in principle agree with higher SS to use on boats.

[Basil Dardagan]

Lovely image that works a treat imo. I think the youngster , its trunk and the splash under and around it are the highlight of the image - with that in mind i would try and find a crop that takes a little more of the bottom. Not enough to lose the angle however enough to concentrate the eye on the youngster