Mr. MudFace

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

African Buffalo with red billed oxpecker

Camera	Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Exposure	(1/640)
Aperture	f/5.6
Focal Length	700 mm
ISO Speed	800

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Sanjeev, love that mud face! You had good light and good BG and the bird on top was a bonus. Regarding the image, I would wish for more room all around. I faced the same situation too, often the 500mm + 1.4X is too much lens for the big mammals. I wish Canon would do a 500mm with a built in 1.4X TC :). Loi

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Sanjeev - I really like the mud covered face. I agree that it's a bit tight all around, particularly below. This is one where I probably would have gone a bit wider and tried for a bit more dof to get the oxpecker in focus too. If the buffalo was resting perhaps you had a chance to try several different comps and settings?

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Sanjeev (sorry multi tasking), providing it's not 'TOO' big a crop, I would have dropped the 1.4x and given yoursef the option, but we all learn in these instances, the 200-400 would be ideal for this.

The 'caked' face is the 'draw' on this image, very nice indeed. Yes, it's too tight, but, I'm not sure how far you might have had to go to get the OP sharp too, probably too far? I would look to adding a Graduate filer top & bottom, plus check your blacks, the nostril is chocked, likewise parts of the neck, albeit a little. Adding also a 60% Lumin on the grass & caked face helps IMHO, likewise a few more rounds of USM, but lets see what others say.

TFS
Steve

PS Meant to add, if 'ethics' are OK, I would take out the two OOF 'clumps' above the head, makes things cleaner.

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Sanjeev, love the mud on it's face. I might have gone for a bit wider as well, but sometimes just not possible. I agree with Rachel & Steve on the Oxpecker. Would be a nice touch if that one would be a tad sharper.
Very nice image and well processed. Just wish the neck and ears would be as well a td more sharpen.
Steve said already everything else, as well Rachel.

Have a great day

Ciao
Anette

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Steve this is full frame, no crop. I should have just taken off the 1.4X TC and taken a shot I guess. Thanks all for helping me with this one.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Sanjeev,
Great advice above with removing the TC.....but I will playfully disagree with Steve that the 200-400 would be the perfect choice.....the perfect choice is the Sigma 300-800 for wildlife!

[Steve Kaluski]

Roman, a good friend of mine had the Pentax 600mm (a bit like the Hubble telescope) it took about 2 days to focus , how long does the Sigmonster take and how heavy is it? Wonder how it compares to the 200-400?

[Bhushan Dalvi]

Sanjeev, love the mud on the face of the animal. As pointed out above I would have preferred more DOF to have the OP in focus. Also a little more room in the front would have improved this nice image tremendously. TFS.

[Morkel Erasmus]

The mud on the face is nice. Given the tightness all around (I would also have removed the TC), I would crop much tighter if you file quality can handle it, focus everything on the face?