First sip!!

[Mark Wiseman]

I was very fortunate to come across this newly born elephant in the Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa. The baby elephant was covered in smegma from the birth and pools of blood lay in the ochre coloured earth. i was in a state of stress with my wife and eight month old son in the car so the techs would have been different if I had the experience over again. Your comment and critiques are most welcome.
Camera details:
Canon EOS 1 Ds MkII
Canon EF 500mm f4LUIS
Aperture f10
Shutter speed 1/30 sec
ISO 200
Aperture priority
Image processed in ACR and CS5 on a 15" MBP.

[Rachel Hollander]

Mark - cute and you did well under the circumstances. I like the framing between the protective members of the herd. I do wish you had more room below and had not cut off the feet. Maybe go tighter to minimize this effect.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

I do wish you had more room below and had not cut off the feet. Maybe go tighter to minimize this effect.

Yep, can only echo Rachel's thoughts.

TFS
Steve

[Ken Watkins]

Mark,

What a great moment, pity about the feet but no bothers for me. The left hand trunk would be my biggest bugbear, but there you go, panic in situations like this is the norm for me at least:w3

[Morkel Erasmus]

Quite sharp for 1/30 with that lens Mark! It does seem like the calf's face isn't as sharp as it could've been using higher SS :e3
I too rue the tightness at the bottom, but love the earthy tones and the textures here as well as the tender moment.

[Charles Glatzer]

Amazing image. Ditto Rachel's comments

Chas

[Charles Glatzer]

I keep coming back to his image, cropping aside, I love it.

This should have a ton more comments!

Chas

[Mark Wiseman]

Hi Chaz,
I took this image with my wife and my son in the car. It was really difficult as I had a portable fridge on the passenger seat on the front of the car which gave a low frequency humming sound which I was worried the elephants would hear or feel and it may have disturbed them. The whole elephant herd was in front of us on a dirt road with a troublesome bull elephant pestering the newborn elephants family. I was so worried that my son would scream as the bull elephant was seriously agitated and came past our vehicle shaking his head. He could so easily have ripped the top of our vehicle open. Once he was past, the breeding herd with the newborn came past us slowly and then disappeared into the bush. I only had a fleeting moment to fire off a few images, this being one of them. The motto for me was to always be prepared for the unexpected and always ensure that your camera is setup correctly before you leave camp or your hut the night before. This opportunity, should it come by me again, will produce much better results. The settings mirror those of a film camera and this was my first trip with a digital camera, I have since learnt and this will not occur again, I will be ready. I will do a repost with a crop as Rachel has suggested as soon as I can. Happy Easter Weekend and best wishes,
Mark.
PS: The trunk on the left is part of the story as one of the females in the herd was supporting the newborn elephant as is drank, it was a full on team effort to get the newborn elephant to drink. We must have just missed the birth as while we were watching the blood in the road slowly changed colour.
:5:5

[Steve Canuel]

Mark,
Sound s like you had a few "distractions" going on around you as you tried to take this shot :bg3:. Still, you got the sweet eye contact and the tones and curves of the elephants legs and trunks add up to a nice shot.

[peter delaney]

Sometimes... Some of our best images are the ones we are least prepared for... The golden rule is "no matter what get the shot" you did that ... So stop beating yourself up about the techs :S3:

Well done on a great image in difficult circumstances

Congrats on your recent "ARPS"

[Neal Cooper]

Mark. Agree with Peter. Don't worry about the techs. This is a shot you will always remember for many different reasons. I like the elephant legs frame and the eye if the new baby. Having been to the park recently and being caught in a herd of adults and young, I can understand you anxiety.