Refuelling

[Steve Kaluski]

Whilst out on a morning Game drive we heard some Elephants making their way through the dense thicket, but had no idea on the size of herd so we turned off the engine and just waited. Slowly a herd of 30 plus began to emerge in various sizes, stopping off for a browse, or the young older calves playing or in this case, just refuelling. They came within 6-8m of us which was nice and not phased by our presence, more curious as ever, a nice and rewarding encounter.

Thanks to those who posted or viewed the previous thread.

Steve

Subject: Elephant calf nursing
Location: Botswana
Camera: Canon 1DX MKII
Lens: 200-400f/4 HH
Exposure: 1/2000s at f/11 ISO3200
Original format: Landscape, slight crop, FF width
Processed via: LRCC & PSCC2017

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Steve always a pleasure to see such big herd up close and being relaxed with our present .
Sweet image of that youngster having a drink at such close range , i do like the intimate tight crop but would go even a tad tighter to loose that dark corner on RHS .
The flipped back trunk is quite neat but the tip of the trunk leaning to one side makes the tiny difference for me.
Processing looks good as ever .....in this case i might up the exp a fraction but exclude the HL . Killer fine detail and great superb sharpens ...Maestro .
The FG greenery is a bit unfortunate, but bet was unavoidable .

A pleasure to view , TFS Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Cheers Andreas, nice to see you back here and very much appreciate your comments and feedback overall on the threads.

Processing looks good as ever .....in this case i might up the exp a fraction but exclude the HL . Killer fine detail and great superb sharpens

Nightmare as I was AFMA on the fly because it literally came off the production time, so glad it passed the 'A L' scrutiny

The FG greenery is a bit unfortunate, but bet was unavoidable .

Correct as I was shooting at eye level from the passenger seat. The 200-400 really came into it's own, but lets see how the 100-400 performs next year.

[Jonathan Ashton]

You have rendered the ele's hide wonderfully Steve, the details are all there, the more I look the more I see.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Steve - This works quite well. Love the flipped up trunk and the hairs below the chin. Yes, the foliage at the bottom is a bit distracting but nothing you could do to avoid it. Agree with Andreas about the urc.

TFS,
Rachel

[Glenn Pure]

Great moment captured, Steve and excellent pose on the young elephant with trunk folded back. A few comments have been made on the foreground foliage but I actually think it provides some nice framing here. The only exception to that is the OOF grass just below the young elephant's mouth. I'd darken it to make it less obvious, or simply clone it out. Light here was very difficult and not my favourite - but no control there. It has created some interesting shadowed and highlighted some of the textures nicely though and made the image look a little more abstract than it otherwise might. Colour looks great and detail really excellent and up to your normal high standard.

[John Mack]

Neat I have never seen an elephant calf nursing. Good detail throughout the image.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Steve -- What a lovely moment and superbly framed ! That curled up trunk is adding to the frame and the details are magnificently brought out. Loved the IQ , excellent as usual. FG is a bit unfortunate but that is part and parcel of this genre of photography. Loved it .

TFS !

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Steve,
Love the attention to detail in this frame and very moved by the emotional content . Great techs, consequently a well exposed frame, colours and tonality spot on.

I "borrowed" this image and tried cropping from the RHS but was not pleased with the outcome: set aside the happy, content look on the baby ellie's face, what makes this frame for me is seeing this little one stretching to reach out to mom's teat in order to feed. The somewhat "elongated" ear, combined with the trunk pointing upwards and closed eyes a winning combination - I am happy with composition as is.

Great IQ and truly an appealing image, I also liked the title and enjoyed the little story which gave a bit of context. A pleasure to view, Steve.

Thank you so much for sharing

Warmest regards,