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Thread: Etosha Elephant #2

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    Default Etosha Elephant #2

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    Here is the dust bath shot of the same elephant - an old male with broken tusks - that I posted half a week ago. He was clearly enjoying himself. Looks like he'd been in the waterhole before this hence the wet muddy bits on him (didn't see that though). This is a little under two-thirds of the original frame area with a bit off all sides, especially the left. I've kept a bit of sky in this one to avoid cutting off the dust cloud but I did try a tighter crop too and didn't like it as much.

    Technical: Canon 80D with Lens EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm handheld. Manual exposure 1/2500, f5.6, ISO 500. Processed in Canon DPP 4 (digital lens optimiser @ 50, Sharpness = 3, crop, lighting adjustments, default NR) then exported 16 bit TIFF to Photoshop Elements. Lighting adjustments to animal where shadows lifted, highlight reduced and midtone contrast booseted. Background darkened slightly. Sharpened (sharpness function: remove Gaussian blur, radius = 0.3 pixels, 60%) after final size reduction.

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    Hi Glenn -- I really love the mud bathing images of elephants and what a lovely specimen this Ele is. Also the dust trail is adding to the image. A bit more separation from the BG in terms of colours would make the Ele more standout IMO, but not a deal breaker in anyway.
    I would have preferred the elephant to be more angled towards the camera.
    All in all i enjoyed viewing this image. TFS !

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Glenn, good timing and you got the SS too, although I think f/9 may have helped as you were quite close I feel. Agree with Haseeb re a bit more separation and you were right to keep some partial sky in to. Perhaps being a bit more forward and angled more to the subject may have helped with the light adding a bit more shadow and less brighter light. Like the plumes of dust and slightly curls trunk.

    Look at Peter Delaney (ex BPN member) for some inspiration of these guys.

    TFS
    Steve

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    Thanks for the critiques Steve and Haseeb. I did play with the 'pop' on the elephant but felt going any stronger than this made it look unnatural so I left it like this. Perhaps I'm fatally into more subtle presentations? As for angle, there was a lot going on around the waterhole and quite a bit of vehicle congestion. Moving just wasn't going to work here - and I don't have Andreas's whisperer skills either! Aperture was the same (persistent) bungle raised in #1 of this elephant a week or so back. But appreciate your points and thanks again for these.

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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    I like the image the lighting is quite striking. Love the dust plume, how on earth they manage to do that without sneezing and coughing I do not know! I presume the air intake is not deep enough to carry the dust into the trachea. DOF doesn't worry me maybe a bit shallow on the tusks and tail.

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Glenn - It's great fun to watch these guys take their dust baths but unfortunately they often don't cooperate with the angle to the camera. Nice light and good timing on the plume. This looks a little oversharpened to me but nobody else has mentioned it.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Lifetime Member Mike Poole's Avatar
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    Nice timing with the dust flying in the wind. I agree that the shooting angle could have been better, but fully accept your reasoning as to why. I like the placement of the trunk in the shot, nicely curled but not obscuring anything important. I'm fine with the chosen aperture here.

    Mike

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Glenn yep another cool frame of that Etosha bull ..well timed . Like that flying dust and the overall comp ....
    Lovely typical Etosha colors ...i like the overall tones , but think the subject has too much contrast and is jumping out too much for my taste .Shooting angle ..well already covered by others .

    Nice one , TFS Andreas

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