A No-Nonsense Kind of Guy

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Friends,

This was really a perky fellow who chased everyone around, including his own kids. Everyone was so scared of him! He went rolling in the mud but let no one join him, how selfish...Here he is, all red from wallowing (on his own) and munching on some fresh grass. No planning has gone into this shot, I just kept trying as the entire warthog family ran around the vehicle and I so struggled to focus - they were just too fast, and often too close. Then the male crossed the road - I had barely seconds to grab a shot or two, this is one of them.

Yes, there was one where he had his tail up Steve, but I cut one of his hind legs, how frustrating...

Nikon D810
Nikon 500 mm F4
ISO 3200
F5
1/1600s
VR on, no support.
Hope you all had a lovely weekend, wishing you a pleasant week ahead and thank you so much for taking the time to view, hope this made you smile:cheers:

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nice side profile of "Pumbaa" here, Gabriela! I like the rich ruddy red tones on him, from the typical Zululand dirt.
Nice clean surrounds as well.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Gabriela - He does look like he enjoyed a nice wallow. Great low pov and nice detail. He looks good against the soft tones of the bg. Also good job in having the head above the split between dirt and bg.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, WOW three Mods comment in succession, there's a first.

Yes, I do like this, especially being side on and the 'trotting' motion, but would have liked the tail up :S3:. Good techs, perhaps a hint more SS 1/2500, but looking good. I might bring up the whites with a Curves adj, did you apply NR to the BKG? I think you would have been better with the D4 here, but... A sliver more on the RH side would help, it's a td neat I think Gabriela.

TFS
Steve

[haseeb badar]

Hi Gabriela -- Nice details and sharpness and nice clean BKG at your disposal as well . I find it a bit flat , I think the image needs a slight midtone boost .

TFS !

[Jonathan Ashton]

A lovely shot Gabriela, I couldn't help but feel it needed a little bit of pop, I have taken the liberty of making an alternative version. Do you think it helps or better as the original?

[Marc Mol]

Love the low POV and clean BG here Gabriela, with the grass tusk a nice touch. :bg3:

although I had the same feeling as John, the OP which looked a little flat/washed out for mine, and went a little stronger on the BG using a light mid tone TK adj, WDYT?

For me, 1600 s/s is more than adequate, pushing further (@ f/5) would see the D810 into a higher ISO range where I personally don't like to go, I've set my Auto ISO max for mine @ 3200. Hence I gather there was some slight NR on that wonderful BG?

Having said that the 500/4 wide open @ f/4 is no problem and would have granted you more s/s had you warranted it. :w3

TFS

[Dumay de Boulle]

I must say my first opinions on the image when opening the colors and image seemed a little washed out. I have to say I like Jonathan's repost best.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gabriela love the low POV here .
The walking pose parallel to the camera is looking good , like wise the overall color and the detail is there !!
The tones do looked a bit washed out and if you give the tones a bit more depth and range , the colors will become even better i think . Crop is a bit tight on all sides for my liking , but this could be just me.
What makes me think is the partial softness / blurriness in the subject ???? On the back and the front leg there are some soft patches ..... ???
TFS Andreas

[Andreas Liedmann]

for illustration

[Mike Poole]

All the technical bits already mentioned. It's a fine pose with the given leg positions, but I would have preferred the shot to have been taken just a moment earlier as he is approaching parallel to the camera. I do like the head being just above the line between the ground and the BG though.

Mike

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dearest Friends,
Thank you so much for viewing, comments, and RP's. I like them both, BTW - so kind of you guys :5

Steve, no noise reduction employed here, the blurred appearance of the BG due to vegetation being so far from the subject, F5 also helped. Forgot to mention above, I added a tad of canvas at the bottom of the frame.

Will be back soon, I owe you all some nice (detailed) feedback on your recent posts, please forgive me for being brief for now.

Just quickly, Andreas - those areas you are pointing out are probably hairless patches on the warthog's skin, will send you a few RAW if you like. I agree it's all too tight my Boetie, even for my own taste, but nothing I could do about it - chap was far away when I started shooting and ran at the speed of lightning chasing his kids, they were running in zig-zag so no clue where they would end up:) Just keep in mind I no longer sit comfortably on the back seat of the vehicle, equipment handy next to me. Nowadays trying to learn how to get my gear out of the window fast (from the driver's seat) without smashing the lens hood into the door frame. I miss Andre terribly, speaking of our photography time together I am just beginning to realise how spoilt I was, he did most of the driving and so I always got the first shots, often grabbing the most exciting stuff as it happened. He did not really mind, when we got home and after downloading our images he often went quietly into the kitchen to cook supper, knowing how desperate I was to process something straight away.

Once again thank you all,

Hope you have a beautiful day,

[keith mitchell]

Gabriela I have read all the comments above and yours, and learn a lot from them.I would be very pleased to have this in my collection it as got a lot of good detail and I do like what is left of his mud bath.


Keith.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you Keith, so much. I feel I am learning too these days, a bit rusty after five months indeed, but ever so kin to up my game:) I have been experimenting with this D810 recently and came to conclusion that it is really awesome in good light but cannot match the ISO capabilities of my other bodies (D4/D5). I will have to be more careful in the future choosing my gear, especially in overcast conditions.

Glad you too learnt something from this thread, this is what BPN is all about. I would love to see you push the ISO on that D4 when needed, and some nice SS my friend:w3

Sleep well, and have a great day tomorrow!

Kind regards,