Floodplain Elephants

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hey everyone...back from Mana Pools...and once again we had an awesome experience. There's just nowhere else where you can comfortably spend almost an hour on foot not 30 meters from a pride of lions on a buffalo kill. This image shows some of the big bulls of Mana on the vast floodplains on the banks of the Zambezi river. This photo was also taken on foot, though we couldn't get closer due to a wide semi-river of water lying between us and the elephants (and these waters abound with crocodiles and hippos).

The mountain in the background is the Zambian escarpment on the other side of the Zambezi river. The bull with the big tusks is called "Boswell" and is the same one I photographed last year standing on his hind legs...and yes, he did it again this year. All the time. Needless to say the photographers who joined us on this year's trip were thrilled with that.

I was testing out the new version of the Nikkor 80-400mm, and I was duly impressed. Lightweight and pin sharp even on my D800 which has an unforgiving sensor for inferior quality lenses. It was much more comfortable walking around with this lens as opposed to the 500mm that I lugged around last year.

Techs:
Nikon D800
Nikkor 80-400mm VR-II @ 290mm
f11 | 1/1250 SS | ISO-720
Full frame with crop from top for panoramic format

I'll try my best to catch up on adding my views to some of the photos posted in my absence...

[Don Railton]

This is a sweet image Morkel.. I like the placement of the elephants and the inclusion of surrounds to add context. Glad you had a good trip and look forward to more images from that trip.

DON

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Morkel - I really like the wide view here. Curious about why ISO of 720 instead of 800? The pano works well but if it were mine I would crop in from the lhs to about the middle of the M in your watermark. This would remove the partial tree on the left edge and also move the main tree slightly off center. I would also look at reducing the cyans slightly, I think it improves the color of the tree and takes out some of the cast to the bg hills.

TFS,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hi Morkel - I really like the wide view here. Curious about why ISO of 720 instead of 800?

...easy - the use of auto-ISO in manual mode ...

The pano works well but if it were mine I would crop in from the lhs to about the middle of the M in your watermark. This would remove the partial tree on the left edge and also move the main tree slightly off center. I would also look at reducing the cyans slightly, I think it improves the color of the tree and takes out some of the cast to the bg hills.

Was wondering who would bring up the partial tree. Sloppy cropping last night, will have to rework. Colours looked fine on my monitor at home, will play with the cyan.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Morkel
glad to hear you had a great trip ,will drop you a mail with some questions about location ,sooner or later.

Like the pano crop of this scene with nice vivid colors , good suggestion made by Rachel about the cyan.
If you rework with the crop suggestion, think it will look even better..

In a real nice world the right ellie would have been in full light and not in shade , sadly , but no deal breaker, for me.

TFS Andreas

[Daniel Cadieux]

I really love the habitat here. Great looking main tree, and the trio of elephants are nicely placed. The far hills look amazing, especially how they rise at right. I agree with the partial tree at left, and I wonder about putting back a bit at right for the smaller anthill near that edge.

[edwardselfe]

Beautiful image - nicely composed. I think the small crop off the LHS that Rachel mentions will make a big difference. And I wonder if the yellow grasses are a little too saturated in the foreground....?
Ed

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Morkel, beautiful image and habitat, nice color. I see why you chose the pano crop as it brings the elephants closer to the viewer by reducing the foreground since you couldn't get closer without risking to be taken for a meal. good chocie of F11 to include the hill at the distance. the main tree really anchors the image here. I do not mind that it is in the center. Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

A nice, gentle image to kick off with Morkel. Like the slopping hills in the BKG and agree on cropping a little off the LHS regarding the tree. Can't say as to whether the FG is a tad to Saturated or not, to me it looks OK and gives the impression of early morning and the light being quite strong? Love the pink in the hillside, good call on the format, nie comp.

TFS
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks a lot, folks