Elle at the Mara!

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Camera	Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Exposure	(1/640)
Aperture	f/5.6
Focal Length	700 mm
ISO Speed	500
Exposure Bias	+1/3 EV

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Sanjeev - for me this is one of your best. Good low pov with nice detail brought out. I like the position in frame though I would still prefer more room below for the virtual legs and feet. Colors look good too. Perhaps just a bit of selective burning on the tusks and a bit more sharpening on the head itself as the rump looks sharpest.

Btw are you using auto ISO or did you choose 500? Personally, I never use auto ISO and only use the more traditional film values for ISO of 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 (unless I have to crank it up to get the image in which case I tend to go to 3200 or 6400 in rare circumstances). A few years back people advised avoiding interim values for ISO and I'm not sure if that still holds true, but it does allow me a bit more control and ss. Others may have a different view but this seems to work for me.

TFS,
Rachel

[edwardselfe]

Nice setting, nice angle and good background, but unfortunately the focus is a bit off. Think the focus point might have been over the rump of the elephant or perhaps you had the camera on ONE SHOT AF when the ele was approaching you? It's going to be hard to recover this image from where it is now, but perhaps you could check on the original file (using Canon DPP or on the camera itself) where the AF point was and perhaps we could discuss how to achieve a sharper image. The good thing, in my mind, is that you got yourself in the right position and took a nice shot, but just missed out on the money from a small technicality! The lighting is soft and pleasant, although I do wonder what the white blobs in the eyes are?
Ed

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Thanks Ed and Rachel. I just checked the RAW in DPP, I have the cam in AI Servo and the focus point was on the forehead instead of the eye. I guess I sort of focused and slightly recomposed hence the shift from the eye. The white is some kind of mucous I guess. Rachel, I agree I was in Auto ISO but restricted to 1600 max. I have the custom functions set to 800 and 400 ISO but unfortunately I shot this in Av and in AUto ISO. Glad you liked the image though.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Sanjeev - if the AF point is on the forehead then I would suggest some more selective sharpening to the head. Also even in AV you can control the ISO.

Rachel

[edwardselfe]

Yeah, it's a cool image with the female's floppy ears and textured skin. I find that this situation can happen to me too - if I am using AI Servo with an animal that's approaching me, it's usually fine as long as I choose to focus somewhere with some good contrast detail. I have many times messed up by choosing the skin of an elephant (rather than the details around the eyes) and found that it's not 'kept up' with the movement. Particularly this is the case with soft light as you had here. I wonder if that's what happened. Anyway, it's a good image and with some minor sharpening on the head, should look great.
Ed

[hennieloots]

Hi Sanjeev - I like the mood of this image. The colors look good to me. I enjoy the detail on the skin textures and the low POV. I would agree with more space for the feet.

[Gregor Bergquist]

A really good one Sanjeev. Well done !

Keep em coming.

TFS / Gregor

[Markus Jais]

I like this a lot. Great soft light. I like the Elephant walking towards the camera. The shape of the ears is wonderful in this shot.

Markus

[Morkel Erasmus]

The f5.6 setting was killing you on this trip, Sanjeev...
From the outset I just saw that this was too shallow (look at sharpness on the trunk vs the body). I did not read all responses here either...
I always suggest, if you want to use auto ISO, then you need to shoot in manual - so YOU can control the aperture and shutter speed for the type of shot you want. If you use auto ISO in Av or Tv you are just leaving too much in control of the camera's computer to choose for you...

I do like the pose and ears!