Surrounded by Family

[Morkel Erasmus]

I love watching elephant herds function. This little one was walking towards us, flanked on all sides by protective family members.
I went for a more high key approach in the monochrome conversion here, with a slight cyanotype tint. Overcast conditions helped even out shadows and contrast.
Photographed in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve last year.


Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f8.0 | 1/320 SS | ISO-2500
Slight crop for composition

[Martin Dunn]

Whilst the high key approach has retained the textures of the elephants skin and the little ellie is lovely, for my taste the overall image is way too bright.
I like the way that the 2 older ellies are out of focus - do I detect a slight vignette?

[Carl Walker]

Hi Morkel - like the way you have managed to isolate this little guy and that the focus is on him. Enjoy the conversion. Is something I need to work on at some stage. Also enjoy the low angle you captured with the long lens

[Loi Nguyen]

Morkel, it is interesting and refreshing seeing a different approach to photograph baby elephants. They are often surrounded by family members and you have isolated this youngster well. I like the great details of the youngster in this high key approach. The low angle and straight on shoot give good connection with the viewer. Well done. Loi

[edwardselfe]

I like this and I like the idea, but for me it's just a bit too bright. I would reduce by 1/2 a stop to a whole stop and I think it keeps the textures etc but looks more natural. If you're going for the high-key effect though, then as usual, you've processed it perfectly. Just not for me, that's all. It's nice to see something different though and it's always good to try new approaches and to see whether they work or not.
Ed

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Morkel - I've looked at this a few times and am still on the fence about it. I like the low pov and the inclusion of the 2 adults to frame the little one but I just think something is off about the high key. It may be the brightness as Martin and Ed suggest but I also keep finding myself wondering about the bg area above the little one that is not high key and the transition between that area and the high key grasses.

TFS,
Rachel

[Douglas Bolt]

Wow! When I saw the thumbnail I wondered why Morkel made it so light, but as soon as I opened the full image it was obvious. The image with this treatment just grabs ones attention and forces it toward the little one. The two larger, out-of-focus elephants on each side serve as framing for the main subject. The whites in the image are either OOF or contain no detail and therefore also focus ones attention on the subject. The same image processed much darker would not have the same effect.

Great insight and forethought, Morkel. Thanks for the lesson.

[Markus Jais]

This is awesome, Morkel. Amazing composition and I really like the black and white here.

Markus

[Tom Graham]

I like it very much as is.
The framing/crop with the two adults is perfect, really anchors the image for the little ele and adds to the scene overall.
Tom
ps - adults also give a scale of size and perspective.

[Steve Canuel]

Agree with Tom here. First thing I noticed was where the two adults were cropped and how it didn't bother me at all. Nicely composed.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks for your valued feedback on this one, folks...