The Hluhluwe/Umfolozi Game Reserve is a place I have often visited over the past twenty years or so. Therefore I used to not look around properly. The sight of a buffalo used to leave me indifferent, but all that changed after having some experiences that occasionally stood out with an impact that overwhelmed me and forced me to pay attention. Some would say I am crazy to call this animal "beautiful" - after all, he does not have obvious features which we normally associate with beauty. But making use of this word is my way of saying this formidable creature has made an impression on me, especially since its features were enhanced by such wonderful light. I take advantage of this month's theme to share this with you.
Apart from the dreamy relaxed pose of my subject here, leaning onto the side of another buffalo - which is something I hope you will like - I anticipate some possible comments regarding colours in this image. One of the reasons why I captured this was indeed color, or the way I perceived colour at the time I pressed the shutter. The afternoon light was gorgeous and illuminated the face of this resting buffalo beautifully. Later during processing I carefully reduced some of the colours and enhanced others, until I found the warmth I remembered and a reasonable range of tonalities. There was quite a bit of gray present and I liked that, I felt it helped subdue the yellow and orange to some extent, which you would otherwise find too overwhelming. You might still find the yellow and orange too much, but I believe this is a fair representation of what I had seen. There are only about ten minutes of this strong golden light on a winter's afternoon and I wanted to capture it, my reason for being there on that day and I desperately needed a subject for the light to shine upon - what delight to have had the buffaloes all around!
Almost FF, with only a tad taken off from the RHS. Processed in LR and PP CC, no special effects of other software used, removed two grasses across the cheek of the buffalo.
Nikon D3S
Nikon 500mm F4
ISO 1000
F6.3
1/800s
Shot without support, other buffaloes present near the windows and all around the vehicle, big and small, silent and relaxed. Any noise I made by moving things around would have spoilt that. I did not even change my camera settings, shot with what I had. A while later, as I was looking through my images, I wondered why the park was so quiet and free of visitors. I then felt sorry for those who sat at home dozing on that golden afternoon, having missed all I had experienced and seen...







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