A small yawn

[Steve Kaluski]

I'm primarily posting this for Loi, as I understand he will be heading off to this location in the next few months and I may forget to post this.

Taken early/late evening, the sun/light was slowly bathing everything in a red warmth. There is a nice pod of hippos and so I would choose going out in the skiff one afternoon, you will/should get some nice images, but unlike Morkel I think, these do not have any camera supports, so it's all down to HH, or if you can, and there is room etc, take a mono or tripod. With the 1DX just crank up that ISO and avoid silly SS, unless you are really tucked in tight and control that breathing!

Thanks for the previous comments.

Cheers
Steve

Subject: Hippo yawning within a pod (Hippopotamus amphibius)
Location: Botswana, Selinda camp
Camera: Canon MKIV
Lens: 500f/4 HH
Exposure: 1/60s at f/9 ISO800 0 EV Comp

A couple of small elements removed in the skyline, FF

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Steve,
what a mouth…….
great yawn , great colors and the usual technical stuff well done. Did you mean Loi should not HH a 1/60 sec like you did, i think really good sharpness for that combo, you must be rock steady to get that sharpness from a moving boat.Dirty old man you are not shivering do you ?
Like overall tones and pastel colors in this frame fitting well to the situation you described about the shooting time.
Watch for the halo on LHS of the yawning hippo.Maybe an optical illusion , but does it need a slight rotation ?
The hippo on RhS is quite dark compared to the dark side of the yawning one? If you have lightened the yawning one i would go a tad darker .The RHS hippo is soft compared to the cut off one on LHS ?, Was it that far behind the main subject ? Does not look like .The water in front is very nice and clear but just only in front of the hippo ?
If it was mine i would treat the water on LHS and RHS the same way, just my take.

TFS Andreas

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Steve - nice low pov and look into the mouth. Excellent sharpness at such a slow ss. I also see the halo but on both sides of the main subject. I wish the half hippo on the lhs wasn't there as find it slightly distracting. I see what Andreas is saying about the water but wonder if that is because that's where the lower jaw is and the way the light is hitting the smaller depth/amount of water in the mouth.

TFS,
Rachel

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Steve, you couldnt get any lower, but this angle works so well. Great view of looking into the large mouth, good eye contact, and just love the overall light. The central placement works well. I would go opposite to Andries comment on darkening the main hippo, I would try and lighten the one on the RHS. Well captured.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi folks,

Watch for the halo on LHS of the yawning hippo.Maybe an optical illusion , but does it need a slight rotation ?

Had to add something in there for you guys to latch onto, gets boring otherwise. Yes I saw the slight halo after posting, but left it. I thought about a slight rotation, but am OK with it, I think it's elements in the BKG that give the appearance of a slight lean?

Nothing lightened, all as is, can remember if the light was from the RHS or behind, but interesting that the RH is much darker.

I'm sure Loi can shoot at 1/60, i jus feel with the 1DX he has a better 'scope' for ISO to maintain a better SS.

Rachel, in all honesty it was a quick fire as the hippo yawned, so real comp as such, but personally I don't mind the cut though head as there is enough to know what it is, however if it was just an ear or something else, small, then I would have cropped tighter or chosen a different route?

cheers
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

[QUOTE= gets boring otherwise[/QUOTE]
Hi Steve sad to hear you are becoming bored in here, so why are you not starting to post the real good stuff , not just the mainstream , you posted so far……………… i sit hear and must have a laugh about my joke………..hope you can laugh too, german black humor.
I am g…….. it t… y…. .
Happy sunday morning.
Cheers Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

hope you can laugh too, german black humor.

I can always have a laugh Andreas, that's what makes this place fun.

BTW Did you understand what I was saying about the settings on the 1DX? Drop me a line, rather than here, as it's going 'Off topic'.

cheers

[Gabriela Plesea]

Something really cool about this image is that one can see the eyes of the hippo behind this huge open mouth!

And I don't mind the members of the pod being present- they give context to this image. I would also try a narrow vertical crop as well, just to get closer, if IQ allows.

So sharp for 1/60s! Did you at least use a monopod?

Brilliant shot as always, great processing!

Have a great Sunday,

Gabriela

[BillTyler]

Beautifully lit. The hippo (hippos?)n on the left needs to either be more a part of the image or less, I think. I'd actually like to see the yawner as the center of a group of three, but failing that, I'd try cropping off the left of the image. Just one opinion, of course, and I've been known to be wrong in the past.

Bill

[edwardselfe]

Amazing details on the central hippo - the composition is a bit difficult and I'm not sure how I would handle it. I can see why you've left in the LH hippo, but it does unbalance things a little.... I'd be tempted by a 2:3 crop losing the hippo on the left entirely.
Ed

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hey Steve. I like the low angle, the light and the tonal depth.
How about this crop?

[Neil Burton]

Morkel's crop is nice. Great angle and light make the shot either way.

[John Ippolito]

Excellent POV and terribly dynamic image, Steve. Crop or not it is very, very nice !! I like it as presented.