Mother and child

[Chris van Rooyen]

I photographed this mother and child Chacma Baboon in the Kruger National Park in South Africa.

Camera Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Firmware: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
Date/Time: 2008:02:08 07:22:45
Shutter speed: 1/1250 sec
Aperture: 5.6
Exposure mode: Av
Exposure compensation: -1/3
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 400
Focal length: 200mm

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Chris I like the tight precise cropping Very appealing !!! The eye contact with the baby is great and good contrasts to the mother's stare Excellent exposure and detail I like it a lot !!! Not a fan of frames but its just personal taste !!!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Chris,
I'll go against Alfred on this one.........would have prefereed top of the head on the mother. Everything else.........hand position of mother..........baby's face..........very, very nice,
roman

[Milo Burcham]

Very cute, love the expression of the young. I might like the top of the head but nice as is. The biologist in me would call this mother with "young". I usually avoid terms like "child" and "couple" when referring to wildlife, although primates certainly blur the line! Again, nice shot!

[Chris van Rooyen]

Thanks for the comments guys, noted. I agree with the biologist in you Milo, but the artist in me was talking here, not the biologist;)

[Van Hilliard]

The kid in me (It's a very old kid) finds "mother and child" very acceptable. If I were publishing this in a serious nature or biology publication or forum, the kid might yield to Milo's suggestion and use the term "young". I love the photo and the "child's" eye contact. I'll take it, no matter how you crop it. I see why some might want the top of the head included but I can also see the tight crop as effective. In fact, I even played (in my child's imagination) with the notion of an even tighter crop on the left.
Great job on this one.

[Chris van Rooyen]

I like your suggestion of the tighter crop from the left Van

[David Steele]

Chris this is one of the best images I've seen chacma baboons. Since the frame has been mentioned I'd like to add that I do like them but sometimes find your frames a bit heavy. . . .

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The crop and moment captured are great. I'm not crazy about the frame, though.

[Robert Amoruso]

The BG contrasts nicely with the subjects which are nice and sharp. Expressions and action good. I would have preferred the have the top of the head.

[Kaushik Balakumar]

lovely composition. liked the tight composition choice here.
nice details too...

[Robert Smith]

I'll have to agree on wanting the top of her head. Nicely exposed. I like the paw position in front of her face as well. Congrats on the capture!