Wild Dogs

[Rachel Hollander]

Despite the fact that they are endangered I have been really lucky with Wild Dog sightings. We followed this pack in South Luangwa as they traveled one morning. It was clear that they had already made a kill and eaten but were still on the hunt. I wish the road wasn't in the bg but like many animals they use the roads because it's easy to move and provides decent sight lines. Taken on my 2016 trip.

Canon 7D2
100-400 II @ 170mm
1/1250
f5.6
ISO 800
HH from safari vehicle, ff, levels, curves, sharpened in PSCC.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Jonathan Ashton]

Nice shot Rachel sharp well exposed etc. I am just a little undecided about composition, I think perhaps the dogs are a little small in the frame, there seems to be a lot of foreground and background, the former especially is of little interest I would suggest. WDYT?

[Glenn Pure]

Rachel, the colours on those dogs are magnificent. What beautiful beasts they are. The way you've handled the strong light looks good to me, especially hard with those dark faces on the dogs combined with shadows can make it tricky. We only had one sighting of a pack of wild dogs while in Africa earlier this year (in Savute) but it was very late and the light was poor so IQ isn't great. So I'm envious of your sightings. One thing I do remember about them is their smell. Boy, did they pong and from some distance away!

But back to your frame... I think you've covered part of this in your self critique regarding the road. Not ideal but as you say, the animals do make great use of them. As for composition, I wonder if this would work better with a bit off the top of the frame to remove some of that vegetation and sky. It would bring greater focus to the dogs, I think (but also maybe the road??).

[dankearl]

I would go a lot tighter if you can....

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel i bet it is always a treat to see the Wild Dogs ...i was never that fortunate with them .
I like the tones , color and the blood stained fur , telling story i think .Well controlled exp .
I am not too thrilled about the comp ...as i would loose most of the FG and keep the tree line/ sky , ending up with a somehow pano , just my thought.
The road was there ....so nothing to worry about .
TFS Andreas

BTW you might try to give the road the same color/ luminance , of the surroundings , might help to make the road less obvious .

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, I would echo Andreas's thoughts, especially with regard to too much dead space at the foot FG. In going with a 16x10 from the top RHC (RIP) not only will it reduce the FG you can also loose the blade of grass entering on the LHS. Obviously cloning it out would offer more manoeuvre for honing the final cropping.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions. I can definitely look at more of a pano crop or 16x10. Andreas -interesting thought about the tone of the road.

Thanks again,
Rachel