Jackal Fight

[Basil Dardagan]

This scene got quite hectic......at one stage there were 4 Jackals all fighting like crazy !!!!

Canon 1D4
200-400 F4 1.4X Conv
1/800
F7.1
ISO 400

[Mike Hitchen]

What a great moment, Basil. The framing gives a real sense of desolation and the animals having to win every bit of food they get.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Basil - Nice action, well captured. I think the carcass adds a lot to the story telling of the image. I think you could go with a more pano crop coming down from the top to below the darker line in the bg.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Basil, lovely interaction here and a good choice in framing the action, as i like the placement of the pair fighting to the left, with the sulking one moving to the right. Even the 'bird' (Magpie) plays a part in the whole scene.

Looking at the techs I would have easily upped the ISO to say 1600 to gain more SS, as you want to freeze the action. Overall the image looks dark, just opening up the exposure address that I feel (although not ideal), but if you then just colour balance things a bit more, you can also get better separation between subject and the environment, but that's just my take. Not sure what you were using to check exposure, but the Histogram is your best buddy!!!

TFS
Steve

[haseeb badar]

Hi Basil -- I liked the moment and the other two subjects quietly involved in the image. Steve's RP has sorted the issue as it was appearing a bit dark , agree with the crop suggestion by Rachel as well . A lovely image overall .

TFS !

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Basil all subjects are working nicely together in this frame ... including the dead one :t3.
What i like the most is that this frame tells a story .... and one can imagine what was going on .I actually like the OP in terms of color / tone and brightness, cause i think it was taken at golden light time .
Steve has pulled out more detail and the image does look " clearer" , but has lost the " golden hour feeling " , i might be wrong but you know when the shot was taken .

TFS Andreas

[Morkel Erasmus]

Great timing here Basil - as with many KTP shots it doesn't always happen as close as we want it to. IQ seems good at this resolution, though.
I like what Steve has done but also feel that the KTP colours do come out best when underexposed a tad...

[Basil Dardagan]

Thank you soo much everybody

[Steve Kaluski]

Basil, can you clarify when it was taken, as it's always good to add more info at the beginning so we have a clearer 'picture' so to speak. I still think the image is under exposed, but you can easily add the 'golden light'. Thanks.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Basil,

Merry Christmas to you, and I hope 2017 takes you back to the Kalahari - you seem to enjoy the place tremendously, and here's one example of how exciting it can be!

Great interaction captured, may I ask, was this close to a waterhole? Was it early morning or late afternoon?

I like the rich colours and atmosphere overall, as well as the subjects fighting for leftovers. They all have quite big bellies, so I take it they have been feeding on the kill for a while. Judging by size and the absence of horns, looks like the victim could be a lamb. I would not be surprised if there were no lions or cheetahs involved, three jackals can easily distract and separate a Springbok mother from its young and take down the little one.

I miss this place a lot, Basil. This image took me right there, I can almost feel the heat and smell the pods of the camel thorn trees. I can see the semi-arid landscape peppered with trees and grasses, and the red dunes.

Back to your frame, my only critique pertains to the lack of enough SS, but I guess things happened fast and you had no chance to change settings. I like Steve's RP, thinking I would go a tad darker overall but certainly lighter than the OP. Like Steve said, it would help a lot if you gave more information about the conditions at the time the frame was taken.

Thank you so much for sharing Basil, appreciate it:S3: Hope to see more from you.

Kind regards,

[Basil Dardagan]

Thank you very very much everybody. This was taken in Etosha at Nebrownii waterhole. It was taken at 5.51pm on the 17/08/16. IMHO the most accurate portrayal of the light at the time would be somewhere between my OP and Steves RP. I think the length of the crows shadow gives an idea of the angle of the sun