Backing away.

[Marc Mol]

This mother and baby moved off very quickly from an impending dispute between the resident bull and a usurper.
Early morning with clear, fresh blue skies brought out the wonderful and contrasting blue water, not to mention the look of contempt she gave me.

Almost F/F, slight levelling, bean bag from front pax seat. Curves, levels, TK adj's, smart sharpen, in ACR & PS CC '15.

Moremi GR- Botswana

Camera	Nikon D5
Lens	Nikkor 400mm f/2.8E FL VR
ISO	220
Focal Length	400.0 mm (400.0 mm in 35mm)
Aperture	f/5.6
Exposure Time	0.00063s (1/1600)

Cheers
Marc

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Marc - Lovely deep colors and the sense of movement from the wake. Baby almost gets a bit lost but I like the dominant feel and power of mom. Nice low pov. Also like one ear up and one down.

TFS,
Rachel

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Marc

Like the angle of this image, how did you manage it from a vehicle?
Image crisp, good eye contact.

Personally I would reduce the blues a bit, especially round the head of the baby. Very often early morning captures with water, is that blue- I have had the same comments to reduce the blues- but that is up to you.

Good one!

[haseeb badar]

Hi Marc -- Lovely colours and details . I liked the scene with the Mom giving that stern look . Lovely low angle which is what making this image look great . Overall a lovely image . TFS !

[Marc Mol]

Appreciate the positive comments, Rachel, Andre & Haseeb.

Hi Marc

Like the angle of this image, how did you manage it from a vehicle?
Image crisp, good eye contact.

Personally I would reduce the blues a bit, especially round the head of the baby. Very often early morning captures with water, is that blue- I have had the same comments to reduce the blues- but that is up to you.

Good one!

Yes Andre, I'm aware of the blue sky reflection especially on wet skin such as a hippo, and this was a perfect example,
I have virtually eliminated that on most of the skin, perhaps missing a small patch on the baby, but I'm fine with this version. I don't like to eliminate totally the cool/temp colours of a morning, and agree this can be a very subjective/personal thing.

I was lying low, directly across the front pax & drivers seat- door open, parked pretty close to the waters edge, just off the road.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Marc lovely colors overall and i am fine with the blues .
Good low POV having the shooting from a car in mind ....good details and overall tone color combo .
I might push the mid tones slightly in the subject .. as a personal pref .. i might loose a bit of the top and bottom for a tighter view .
Nice one technically well executed .

TFS Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Marc,

I like this very much, especially the subtle interaction (and body language) between mother and baby hippo - very well captured and superb timing! The little one looks rather naughty to me:)

Love the colours and tonality, framing is great, beautiful detail. What a wonderful behavioural frame and it's nice to have that bit of environment too. Should the Hippo head not intersect the water edge I might have also suggested you take some from the top. I admit I also thought at first of a tighter crop but in the end decided I like this just the way it is. Nice touch, that fine water spray:) It all works, this is well processed and presented Marc, let us have some more!

Kind regards,

[Morkel Erasmus]

Lovely moment here mate, great colours for me and nice layering too.
Agree baby can be hard to spot at first, but not a big issue.
I would crop some off the top, just to focus things in nicely?