Bucket mouth!

[Marc Mol]

With a mouth as big as a dumpster bin it's no wonder they command every respect when close to these guys!
This young male was performing for us for nearly 1hr as we watched a flock of nest building golden weaver birds. I was fortunate to get some frames with the eye visible, which always helps.
Ruaha NP- Tanzania

D4 500 f/4 VRII 1/1250s f/5.6 ISO400. + CPL filter. Almost F/F except for slight levelling which gave me a bit less room on top unfortunately. PS CC, ACR, levels, curves & 4% NikDE selectively on the hippo.

C & C most welcome

Cheers
Marc

[Sid Garige]

Marc,

Great techs and perfect action.
Little more breathing room around the image would have taken it to next level.
Good luck next time.

PS: simple solution. Switch to canon and get a 200-400 with 1.4x

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Marc - Great action and timing. I agree with you about the visible eye, takes it up a notch. Agree that a little more room all around would be preferable. If it were mine I would reduce the cyan/green in the cascading water. Nice one overall.

TFS,
Rachel

[Don Railton]

Hi Marc

Nice action shot, good timing and anticipation, very impressive mouth.. Agree its tight, especially at the top and the colour in the water could be adjusted. Can you hire these for excavating?? I'm thinking they could dig out a pool in about 10 minutes..

DON

[Marc Mol]

Thanks Rachel, Don & Sid

Marc,
PS: simple solution. Switch to canon and get a 200-400 with 1.4x

Thanks Sid, I had the Nikon 200-400VR for a few years but swtiched to the 500VR and haven't looked back, I have the excellent 80-400AF-S to cover that focal length now and do have images of his performance
to show with that lens soon.
Given that it's US$9K cheaper and competes with both 200-400's very well it's a no brainer too

[Marc Mol]

If it were mine I would reduce the cyan/green in the cascading water. Nice one overall.

TFS,
Rachel

I'm thinking it's the drop in CPL filter effect reducing the glare nicely but could take that colour down a few points, easy fix.

[Marc Mol]

I think that's got it.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Marc, a little tight, would have liked a bit more below certainly, but nothing you could do. Love the open mouth and trailing water, adds to the moment. Adding some mid tone to the hippos body adds a bit more depth I think. Gave up with the drop in filter for the 500, more hassle I found, so sold it, just add things via PS if needed.

PS: simple solution. Switch to canon and get a 200-400 with 1.4x

Yep, a cracking lens indeed Sid, just gives so much flexibility.

TFS
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

I actually quite like the tightness of the frame around this one.
Repost is better Marc, but I feel there's some red and magenta you could probably still pull back on (hippo skin and inside mouth)?

[Marc Mol]

Gave up with the drop in filter for the 500, more hassle I found, so sold it, just add things via PS if needed.
TFS
Steve

Thanks Steve, I still find that the drop in does the best job for cutting water reflection bar none including PS, IMO

[Marc Mol]

Thanks Morkel

I actually quite like the tightness of the frame around this one.
Repost is better Marc, but I feel there's some red and magenta you could probably still pull back on (hippo skin and inside mouth)?

I can see just a tad of magenta inside the mouth, but really struggling to see a trace on the skin on any of my 3 cal monitors?

[Morkel Erasmus]

it's very slight on my end, and may be the magenta in the mouth "throwing my eye" or "biasing my eye"

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Nice one, specially after tweaking it a bit, Marc. I wonder how many people realise how huge those bottom tusks are when not partially covered by flesh (try 16"...!)?