Mafuta

[Basil Dardagan]

Canon 1dx2
200-400 F4
ISO 2000
1/1250
F/5
Spot Metering

Taken in the Chobe Riverfront area near Kasane. Had to really reduce the highlights due to the white sand as I spot metered on the little guy

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Basil,

They don't get any cuter than this - awesome capture!!! Beautiful pose, love the open mouth and that tiny pink tongue visible, trunk skilfully spraying sand all over the place! (I thought at this age they are still trying to figure out what to do with the trunk, LOL)

I really don't mind the positioning of the subject in the centre, just wish you had a tad more at the bottom of the frame. Techs about right and exposure looks good, nice detail on the little one ( don't you just love those wrinkles on his skin!).

You've done well reducing the HL, just thinking you could perhaps extract even more detail from the subject and bring out all that caked mud, should your ethics permit maybe clean up a few of those Ellie droppings in the BG.

Frame a little on the "warm" side, just curious what were the lighting conditions at the time?

Super special image, you made my evening Many thanks for sharing, Basil.

Kind regards,

[Gabriela Plesea]

PS. Forgot to mention that you chose a very appropriate title..."Mafuta" in Zulu language translates into " The Fat One" or " The Plump One" The term is often used to affectionately describe little babies...

[John Mack]

Very nice. Good timing with some nice light. A little tight on the bottom there.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Basil - Baby elephants are so cute and playful and this is no exception. This would have been a good one to switch to portrait in the field. Love the action. Agree about a bit more room on the bottom. Was the light/coloring really that warm and red? It seems to have a heavy red cast. Adjusting the WB substantially cools it down and brings out more detail in hide. Even if the red cast/light is natural I would reduce it if the image were mine. I agree you could bring out even more detail and texture in the hide. As most know, I don't believe in cleaning up natural environments so for me the bits would stay.

TFS,
Rachel

[Jay Shah]

Hi love this Mafuta...If I had captured this, it would be my image of the day and one of the images of the trip. Nothing to add to very detailed and technical comments by our moderators.

[Basil Dardagan]

Thank you everybody. Lighting was about an hour before sunset in good light (still a bit bright). I have experimented with cooling it down a little and it def improves the image. Thank you

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Basil, love the playful capture and spray of sand. Colour looks good and reflects the time of day, with nice detail for the DoF and so for me, I would leave as presented. Agree that more below would have been better and you can afford to loose some from the RHS to take the subject off centre. Don't be afraid to push the ISO to gain either or both SS & DoF.

TFS
Steve