Danger Lurks on the Mara

[Roman Kurywczak]

I have just returned from 2&1/2 weeks in Tanzania and this series of the croc going after the small wildebeest was one of my favorites from the trip as this is the first time I got a chance to see them take them down. It went quickly for this little one shortly after......such is life in the Serengeti. Working on new laptop.....so not sure yet with adjustments even though I have calibrated! The Mac Book Pro retina display resolution is just unreal!
Canon 1D Mark lll and the Sigma 300-800 @ 800mm ISO 800 at f/7.1 and 1/1600 sec. on beanbag. Crop top and bottom and saved at 78Q.

[Andrew Merwin]

Roman, another riveting & unsettling image from Africa. I like the crop as it focuses on the wildebeests impending death. The colors look good to me Roman. Does the wildebeest know that the croc is about to attack it or is the attack a total surprise to the ungulate?"

[Roman Kurywczak]

Roman, another riveting & unsettling image from Africa. I like the crop as it focuses on the wildebeests impending death. The colors look good to me Roman. Does the wildebeest know that the croc is about to attack it or is the attack a total surprise to the ungulate?"

At this moment....I think he was unaware......not for long though!

[Douglas Bolt]

Talk about capturing the sense of impending doom! Nice work, Roman. Looking forward to seeing more from your trip.

[Steve Canuel]

Douglas' comment nails it for me. Croc on a submerged sandbar?

[Loi Nguyen]

very scary scene as you have no doubt of the outcome. Excellent image with excellent sharpness for bpth. Wish I could see the croc's eyes. Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Roman, nice to see you back posting, looks like you waited before editing too, LOL.

It certainly incredible when you see these massing herds strong congregating at the edge of the river, their body clocks telling them they need to cross to pastures new, but also they seem to know the water is full of danger!!! The colour of the water typifies the location and the crocs do not generally need to hide. Crop works well and there is enough save for the WB to swim into, or not, but feel something like a 2.5 CCW rotation might help, figures personal taste.

Colour/balance looks good, look forward to more Roman.

TFS
Steve

[stuart wanuck]

Awesome!

[Gregor Bergquist]

Agree with rest of the bunch here. Awesome and unsettling. Agree with Loi about the eyes. Maybe it would work with a little less panoramic crop.

TFS / Gregor

[Stan Cunningham]

Really liked your choice of crop, the good IQ, and the colors look great.

[Tom Graham]

Very much agree with GB, too pano for me.
And I really miss the crocs eyes.
Tom

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Roman,
like the pano format, really working good on this image, i can almost feel the fear of the wildebeest.
Agree about canvas rotation, but disagree about the overall tonality. I personally feel that the image is overall too light and thin in color and tones, needs a boost in the mid tones and taming the highlights .There is a halo on the bridge of the face on the LHS of the wildebeest.

Took the image into PS , and looked at the channels, the RED is too light and has got almost no contrast and density, so tweaking the red channel only , will give a lot more density and life to the whole image, just try it.

TFS Andreas

[Tom Graham]

A crop like this puts more emphasis on the subjects by pacing them near the intersection of the 1/3 points/lines -



Tom

[edwardselfe]

There's a great story here and I like the image but I agree that the slightly narrower crop improves it. I think the original looks slightly oversharpened. I would reduce clarity a bit on RAW and then sharpen the same amount as before and see the difference.
Ed

[Morkel Erasmus]

I like the panoramic crop. I can't wait to be there in a few weeks and see these monster size crocs for myself, Roman.
Nice action and impending drama here. Looking forward to more!

[shane shacaluga]

Crushed head in 3, 2, 1 ......

Nature at its cruel best!

TFS

PS: I prefer the wider panoramic first post

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Roman - Sorry I'm late to this one. I prefer the pano crop of the op. It really conveys the scene and impending doom well. I do think the croc is slightly oversharpened and would be interested in seeing the results of Andreas' suggested tweaks. Looking forward to the next images in the series and more from your recent trip.

TFS,
Rachel