Mr Cantankerous

[Steve Kaluski]

Came across a small herd towards the early evening, seems that parking up caught their attention. Seems they were not the only ones grazing, as this Ox pecker was also going around his daily duty.

Well that is almost all from me for a few weeks, still around until tomorrow, I too am heading off to join Rachel and a few others in SA, however young Morkel will still be around, but if we have internet access we will try and swing by from time to time.

All the best
Steve

Subject: Cape buffalo with Ox pecker (Syncerus caffer)
Location: Chitabe, Botswana
Camera: Canon MKIV
Lens: 500f/4 resting on beanbag
Exposure: 1/160s at f/5.6 ISO400 (Should have upped the ISO)

[Rachel Hollander]

Steve - even the oxpecker is looking up to see what's going on. Going vertical was a good choice. Feel free to nudge me to shoot vertical more often as I don't do it enough. As always detail and color look good. Only thing I would do is burn the triangle between the two buffs as it is a little brighter and drawing my eye.

TFS,
Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Steve - looks good as always from all the technical side nothing to find to make better i feel.The OxPecker is very nice little bonus.I do find you could loose some of the greenery going square or 5x7. WDYT?

Have a safe trip and loads of fun and do not drop the ISO too low .

Cheers Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Have a safe trip and loads of fun and do not drop the ISO too low

Will do, and I never do with the 1DX that is the beauty of the beast as you know.

[Loi Nguyen]

Steve, like the straight on look and the other buffaloes give depth to the image. Safe travel! Loi

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nice pose and DOF here Steve, oxpecker is a nice touch of colour in an almost-mono scene.
I'm not too sold on comp, though I guess it's FF on the sides, needs a hint more on our RHS?
Safe travels, hope to see you in June

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Morkel, yes room on the RHS as viewed, but full of that lovely golden grass, hence the crop. I always ask try to have a pair of strong/long loopers in the jeep where possible, but wasn't going to trim the grass on this occasion!

[Neil Burton]

Reminds me of a bloke I met once, helps me with LR sometimes ;)

[Gabriela Plesea]

Bring on the lawn mower, Sir! Just kidding, I am often told I shoot vertical more than I should , this certainly works for me and especially since it looks like one of my images, crop included As usual, more detail in your image than in mine but I shall post mine when you get back just to have your opinion

I am sure you are having a great time in SA, hope you have as much sunshine as we have here in Kwazulu Natal, starry skies tonight and the promise of 29'C tomorrow-how's this for winter in Africa?

Great work Steve, looked for colour casts and found none, love the little oxpecker, subjects sharp and the pose is great - the look on the buffalo's face is priceless

Warmest regards,