Brown Hyena

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Friends,

I have not shared an image for some time now, no new frames to process and also, a little swamped with work lately. Found this brown hyena in my folders the other night so I though I'd post it, please bear in mind it was taken in overcast conditions and at high ISO. Water is green due to the presence of algae:)

This is a species not often seen because of its shy nature. One morning in February 2017 I happened to be sitting quietly in my vehicle at Kij Kij waterhole in the Kalahari when this fellow decided to have a drink on his way home. My late partner taught me to refrain from pressing the shutter too early because they are so skittish they run away without drinking - he was very fond of the species and somehow protective of them, so we always made sure they managed to quench their thirst before we picked up our cameras. I behaved in a similar fashion on this occasion and was rewarded with a number of images of this individual in various poses, here is one of them.

Nikon D5
Nikon 500 F4
ISO 8000 (overcast and a fine drizzle )
F5
1/1600s

Processed in LR and PSCC, cropped all around, approx 10% of the image. Removed a small but distracting log by cloning.

Thank you kindly for viewing, I appreciate it. Suggestions and RP's welcome.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Hello Gabriela,

Patience paid off with a wonderful capture. Water still clinging to his lower lip adds nicely, as well the ripples in the water beneath, and kneeling position. Looks as if there is some dried blood on his cheek from a recent meal. Interesting markings on his legs and love that long body hair.


Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gabriela, glad you got to see this species, all we could do was see the footprints first thing in the sand, as they are very distinctive, albeit a bit lazy in their pattern.

Nice detail, love the shaggy/hairy coat and interesting that it adopted a 'kneeling' position, similar to warthogs I would say. Interesting to see a D5 at ISO8000, not seen an image posted at that rating, it's all been very conservative, I thought it was only Canon that pushed ISO boundaries , good for you!!!! F/5 might have just gone 5.6, but personal I guess. I like the fact you have definition/tone and depth around the water hole too, often it's just left as shot and I think it helps here. I'm not sure about the 'grass' green maybe it was that vibrant?

TFS
Steve

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much Geoffrey and Steve

Indeed there is some blood and a few open wounds, poor fellow must have been in a fight with a Spotty or a few jackals...

Those Brown Hyenas are almost as elusive as the leopard. Would love to see a pup one day but it's unlikely, their dens are far from the roads and difficult to spot.

High ISO indeed but I hate to come home with a blurry frame. I might have a few images of this individual with more DoF, as well as higher ISO - things were a bit on the "dark side" and at some point it was raining so I thought I'd take my chances and deal with the consequences later. I plan to share them, if only to get your feedback and for comparison purposes.

Grass is on steroids, LOL. Not sure it's my PP work or it was like that, I would like to believe it was Will see what I can do with the next one, reduce the greens a tad or work on the vibrance.

Many thanks once again for your feedback and advice, much appreciated!

Warmest regards,

[Steve Kaluski]

High ISO indeed but I hate to come home with a blurry frame.

The way to go!

Grass is on steroids, LOL. Not sure it's my PP work or it was like that, I would like to believe it was

Perhaps it was in the same location as Jon's Hyena, it's no big deal, I just thought it might be a bit 'green'?

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Gabriela, a lovely image of the rare Brown Hyena, I like the kneeling pose, the water body and the PP work here. Good to see you push that ISO. TFS.

[Gabriela Plesea]

"Perhaps it was in the same location as Jon's Hyena, it's no big deal, I just thought it might be a bit 'green'?

Steve, my Brownie was in the Kalahari and John's Spotty in the Kruger. Both images taken after lots of rain. Oh well, it must be all in my head, the vibrance and those colours, LOL - I just love the place too much

[Marc Mol]

As with Geoffrey's WC, just a fantastic close encounter of what's normally a very skittish animal, very well done and good patience well rewarded Gabriela!

Love the detail in that shaggy coat also.

TFS

[haseeb badar]

Hi Gabriela -- I liked this specie , would love to see it as well as photograph it. It has a very close resemblance to our Indian striped hyena . Nice to see that ISO cranked up.

I liked the pose and that skittish expression on it , well timed and captured.

TFS !

[Jonathan Ashton]

Welcome to the green green grass club Gabriela , I like the image , as you say not very often seen and even less so photographed. I like the pose he looks pretty much at ease. The tones in the image are really good and the hyena looks well rendered.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much Marc, Haseeb and Jon! More Brownie images soon...

Kind regards,

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Gabriela - Sorry to be late but as you know I have been busy this week learning the ropes. I am very jealous of this sighting and frame. Like Steve, I only saw footprints. Love the kneeling pose with the head up and ears in different directions. Tones look good. I can't say the same about that wound- it looks nasty.

TFS,
Rachel

[Gabriela Plesea]

Thank you so much Rachel,

Never too late and I am happy to receive feedback from you anytime

Wish I had the opportunity to photograph a brownie in better light, hopefully next year. I do have more images from this sighting and will share them soon - thank you so much for viewing and for your thoughts - much appreciated!

Warmest regards,