Trunk Wrestling

[Rachel Hollander]

Taken in the Timbavati Game Reserve, South Africa on my recent trip.

Canon 5D3
100-400 @ 135mm
1/750
f5.6
ISO 800
HH from safari vehicle, slight crop for comp, curves, sharpened in PSCC.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[John Mack]

Nice moment that you have captured here. The detail on the elephants look good. Looks like you were pretty close.

[William Dickson]

Lovely details on the elephants, and a great moment captured. I like how you managed good HA's on both. I would like to have seen more of the rear leg on the elephant to our right. Lovely looking image Rachel.

Will

[greg cowle]

Nice and sharp on the action. Would have been good if possible to move the vehicle to the left (preferably) or right to have a more uniform background in the gap.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks John, Will and Greg, much appreciated.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Fine quality image, it is realtively unusual to see such "clean" elephants. I like the composition and the colours - -for some reason the image looks more clearly defined when viewed in PS.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Cute ellies Rachel, typical youngsters at play

A fine Theme image and great fun to view. Lovely detail and colours look natural, I like that bit of BG too. Those two must have been drinking and bathing, this is the time when ellies get up to all sorts of nonsense

Cannot think of a better comp in this instance. I personally like getting close and here the expression on the subjects' faces make this image for me. I especially like the chap on the RHS of the frame, makes me think of an oversized mouse. Nice detail in the eye, BTW.

A well captured and well processed frame, such a pleasure to view - thank you Rachel for sharing

Warmest regards,

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Jon and Gabriela. Yes, Jon, they are pretty clean - just a little dusty but not muddy. This herd was digging in the dry riverbed for water.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

I love this and can not help but wonder how many steps these two ele's are going to walk together and what experiences they will share. The light was perfect, excluding dark shades usually cast by those big ears.

[Steve Kaluski]

A nice playful moment Rachel, but this would have been a better/stronger image shot portrait, to include the feet as it's so close and I'm pretty sure this action wasn't fleeting as they lover interaction with each other. If you had gone tighter on the OP then perhaps OK. Going 10x8 balances the image I feel and using layers and masks to create depth with Exposure helps, it's all bit 'the same' in terms of light. The elephant dung is a bit unfortunate being between the gap of the trunk & body and a wee bit distracting.

This might have been a good contender in B/W.

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel you caught the youngsters well in action !
The right one as viewed has a priceless good expression in its face and the ears are looking ....( Gabriela) like a big mouse .
I do like the overall tones and colors ... could be maybe improved for more separation from the BG ...Lovely details and the hide .
I think the crop is tricky with this kind of image , just " too many " distracting elements ...in the BG and the legs are distracting too .

If you look close you can see wide halos along the legs and the bellies .... proven by a levels adjustment layer. You might blur the mask less .... or work more defined as it is very easy to create a mask for this image without the need of blurring the mask .

TFS Andreas

[haseeb badar]

Hi Rachel -- Fantastic details and a lovely moment to capture, well timed. Not the cleanest of BKG, had you gone tighter would have been better in terms of framing, but i am still fine with the framing but tighter would have been better.

Certainly enjoyed viewing this image. TFS!

[Jay Shah]

Hi Rachel, great IQ, details and interaction. Glad to see eye details as not easy to see the same for elephants. As Steve suggested, perhaps portrait crop will make interaction stand out even more.