Not always I get to shoot ground level shots of wild animals. Conditions came in well for this image and its great to see these gentle giants from this low angle.
One can notice the liquid coming out from just behind the eye. And when that happens these are very dangerous animals. The condition is called as Musth. And here is what it is -
"Musth or must is a periodic condition in bull (male) elephants, characterised by highly aggressive behaviour and accompanied by a large rise in reproductive hormones. Testosterone levels in an elephant in musth can be as much as 60 times greater than in the same elephant at other times. However, whether this hormonal surge is the sole cause of musth, or merely a contributing factor, is unknown; scientific investigation of musth is problematic because even the most placid elephants become highly violent toward humans and other elephants during musth, requiring segregation and isolation until they recover. Female elephants do not undergo musth." - Wikipedia
This is a really nice shot and I like what you've done with the sepia toning. Perhaps you could give us a bit of insight into your processing and camera settings and then we can help more. I'd be interested to know what settings you used to gain that sepia tone for example.
In terms of the image, I'll comment more when I know more details, but the light is very nice and the details you've extracted look natural without being over done. Very good image in my opinion.
Interesting that the temporal gland secretion is a sure sign of musth in Asian Elephants. African Elephants also seem to experience musth (althought musth is something that was discovered in Asian eles so we have to be careful applying the same thinking to Africans without more research) but not all elephants with weeping temporal glands are necessarily in musth. Many females show that secretion and young males too. Interestingly, that is the secretion that gives musth bulls their smell (I thought is was the dripping urine but I stopped to smell the urine trail of a musth bull who had just passed me and it had no unusual smell).
Hi Poorna - a big welcome to the Wildlife Forum and BPN! A very nice first image. I like the grass hat and the conversion looks good. It looks like you have more detail on the body than the head, my bet is that you can still bring out more detail on the head. If it were mine I would burn the highlights on the tusk and also darken the tree coming out of the back. A little more room below would be preferable too.
As Ed said, it helps us to help you if you post your EXIF data including camera, lens, focal distance if a zoom was used, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, exposure comp, whether handheld or on some kind of support and any filters used. Also please briefly describe your post processing (pp) and let us know the software used. This way people can give suggestions for improvement both in the field and in pp.
Finally, please don't hesitate to jump in and give your comments on other people's images. It doesn't have to be technical, you can just tell us what you like and don't like about the image. This helps us all get to know and learn from each other and fosters a sense of community. It also is the best way to get the most out of BPN.
TFS and looking forward to seeing more of your images,
Rachel
Sorry friends. I just realised that I didn't mentioned the required technical details of the image. Here they are -
Nikon D800E, Nikon AF-S 300mm f4 + Nikon AF-S 14TE II
420mm | f5.6 | 1/320 | EV +1/3 | ISO 1250 | Handheld
Levels & Curves were adjusted through Photoshop. The image is converted to B&W and mild sepia tone is also applied in photoshop. Some sharpening & vigniting is also done.
Without these details you guys already gave a lot of inputs. Thanks :)
From what I learnt, I thought all elephants in the world (including the African ones) goes through this phase. It is very interesting to know that the African elephants usually don't undergo this phase. Of course even for the Asian ones the females don't undergo this.
The elephant that you see in this image is surely undergoing Musth, it is isolated from the group and spending its time alone. It was not bothered about the safari vehicle too, it just stood its ground :)
And you are spot on with the smell thing, it stinks when you are near these animals. Thanks for sharing your insights.
Nice shot of the elephant Poorna. All other has been mentioned except perhaps the oof grass in the leg area although it is not too distracting.
With African elephant the temporal gland secretion is not necessarily directly associated with musth. Individuals - males and female will secrete when excited or stressed depending on behavioral circumstances. Often different herds or isolated groups meeting up at waterholes will show signs of this secretion as will they if there is any normal behavioral event that elephants engage in.
Edward is right in saying that not all elephant bulls that weep are in musth - not all elephant bulls are necessarily always aggressive in this behavioral trait throughout the musth period.
Welcome here Poorna! I like your composition and your conversion - good use of tone/contrast and the vignette.
Only thing I'd wish to have changed is to not have the tree "growing out of the head" behind the bull...
African elephants in musth are very easily agitated too...
Would love to see more of your work and hoping to see you critique some of the other photos you see posted here!