Giraffe feeding

[Pieter de Waal]

108091

I was fortunate to get this Giraffe feeding at eye-level in Kruger National Park.

EOS50D; EF100-400; f5.6@1/800; iso 400; Bean Bag from vehicle.

C&C allways welcome.

[Morkel Erasmus]

I like this close-up study Pieter. Great detail and moment - love how they can curl their tongues around thorny branches and strip the leaves without getting hurt. Was this on your August 2011 trip? Looks like Autumn-ish colours in the BG? Might do a little work on the overall BG colour as it seems to have a slight magenta cast - let's see what others say? :e3

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Pieter, nice to see you back posting again, hope to see more. :w3

Good detail on this one and I like the crop, although you could extend the image more to the right if you have the content there. In an ideal world an image like this is all about what the animal is doing for me, therefore I would have liked to see more of the tongue, but I did prefix it with, 'in an ideal world'.:bg3: I can see the magenta cast Morkel is referring to, but was this shot early in the morning, as it has that feel, therefore perhaps the colour is reflective, but will await your reply. Interesting to see the scars on the neck.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Pieter - The pov is great and not something we see every day. Sharpness and detail look good too, looks like there are some thorns in the neck too. I see the magenta in the bg but have also seen the scrub colors/light like that so not a big deal to me. My only nit is that I wish the other giraffe was not in the bg and intersecting the neck. Well done overall.

TFS,
Rachel

[Ken Watkins]

Pieter,

The major trouble with an image of this nature is the inevitable "messy" foliage that you have to include, made more noticable by the fact that the Giraffe is bending down, thus introducing even more BG.
The detail in the Giraffe itself is superb, a little more protusion of the tongue would have added greatly. The slight magenta cast is an east fix using shadows in colour balance.

Is the "Giraffe" in the BG not a tree?

[v.p.nurdeen]

Hi Pieter,
Beautiful close up great IQ on the Giraffe.
VPN

[Hilary Hann]

Very nice image and the surrounding environment doesn't detract for me. A bit more tongue would strengthen it for me.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Very nice detail and like the tufts of fur on the horns. I would like to see atouch less space below but thats minor. Overall a pleasing image...TFS Pieter!

[Pieter de Waal]

Thanks to all of you all for your feedback and suggestions, much appreciated.

Yea Morkel I was having a little difficulty with the colour on this one and forgot about the BG so will revisit. "Was this on your August 2011 trip?" Not that trip Morkel, but one we did in October.

Steve this was shot at around 10.00a.m. and try as I might of the dozen or so pictures taken this had the best view of the tongue, before he moved off. Another time maybe. I do have more space on the right which I cropped after some debate, now tend to agree with you and will rework with all the other suggestions.

Ken you are right it is a tree and is the kind of BG one gets in these situations.