Watching Me, Watching You...

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Everyone, hope you are enjoying a happy Sunday,

Here's something I captured yesterday (at ISO 8000) with a loan D4S from Nikon.

I was at the gate of the local game reserve, around 5 pm and rather dark (it is winter here in South Africa), me thinking I had a not-so-fruitful two hour search for some worthy subjects to put this camera through its paces...As I got out of the vehicle to pack and put my gear away, a family of warthogs ran past me at the speed of lightning and made me jump back onto my seat! Those guys are wild as they can get but like to hang around the gate of the park, relatively safe from predators and somewhat accustomed to people and game drive vehicles. I waited until they settled down and got out of the car again (it is allowed in this area which is in fact a picnic site), walked slowly towards them and stopped at a safe distance, then lied down. This chap was quite relaxed and kept grazing, at the same time keeping an eye on me:)

Love the way warthogs "mow the lawn" on their knees - it is a pity I could not get a frame with more space around this fellow but he was moving towards me and I would have had to stand up to gain more distance between us which was not a good idea, I quite enjoyed the proximity and the look he was giving me so here it is, only cropped from the sides, F5 to maintain shutter speed and minimal PP work, just wanted to share

Wishing you a wonderful day,

[Christopher Miller]

ISO 8,000?! Wow! I never would have guessed that just by looking at the image. TFS

[Diane Miller]

Can something be ugly and cute at the same time? Great post! TFS! PS - apparently you made it home safely. He/she/it looks a little dangerous.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I was at the gate of the local game reserve, around 5 pm and rather dark (it is winter here in South Africa)

It sucks here too for light right now. This morning was the coldest morning in west Sydney all year. I was setting up a hide for the coming weekend in -2.5 degrees C. Brrrrr.

Go for the high ISO. Excellent view mate!

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you Christopher, Diane and Akos:)

I like to pop in to this Forum ever so often, see what is new and share something that might entertain you:)

Christopher, I am pretty amazed with the capabilities of the D4S, regrettably I have to send it back to Nikon after enjoying it for a week-end:) Still shooting D4 and D3S, for now...Does the lust for a new body ever stop?
Diane, I am smiling reading your comment, thank you...For interest' sake, I once found a definition for "cute" in a dictionary that described it as " ugly but adorable at the same time", LOL. He is ugly and warty indeed...but very, very cute!
And Akos (Mate!!!) wish I could send you some Celsius, here 31" C just about every day, unfortunately (unlike in Cape Town) it gets dark at 5 in the winter...

Will share some more fun stuff if that's ok... meanwhile, if you have the time and inclination, take a look at Story Sequences Forum - Marc Mol has just shared an awesome sighting from his archives and I uploaded a few fun ellie shots taken this Sunday:)

Have a super evening,