I snapped this lady in the Kruger National Park earlier this month, at the Byamiti Causeway. She was very sleepy and relaxed, and only occasionally opened an eye to check me out.
Great image, the moment of the capture of the ear-wiggle is perfect, although a tad more DOF could have been good to have the drops more in focus with the sharp eye.
it's been 6 years since you were last here! Always been a fan of your work and this image shows why, love the low angle and slight opening of the eye along with the flicked ear water drops all come together nicely. All we needed was a "V" snort
Hindsight being a wonderful thing, agree on more DOF may have seen all those drops in focus.
Thanks for the comments Greg and Marc Valid point about the DOF. My only possible concern would be that more DOF might make the line in the back too defined?
I agree with the above comments - the low POV, flick from the ear and the sharp eye are all superb. I would have preferred the extra DoF for the nose and see that as more important than a concern bout the line on the BG, which, although not the ideal way of working, can always be softened in PP
Great sighting and capture of this Byamiti lady, POV is superb and framing is great. What makes this image for me is the eye and of course, flick of the ear Love the water droplets too.
I do understand your concern about the line in the BG but at the same time I too wish for more DoF. Had you been able to move to the right it would have helped, but I gather you would have lost the "moment", or movement from the ear...
Last Sunday I was watching hippos at a dam, thinking about the colours and how to deal with them in post processing. The species naturally display a combination of magenta, ochre and blue which combined create a brownish-purple that is so unique and not always easy to replicate. Hope you do not mind, I took the liberty to "borrow" your image as I felt some of those colours I mentioned were a little too dominant. Not sure you'll like my RP but looking forward to see what you think
Overall a powerful image and I love the content, well seen and captured! I sincerely hope to see more from you
Soooo good to see you posting again, Chris! I trust you have been well, my friend.
Love the flick of the ear with the droplets. I know this spot, well taken.
I think f11 would have worked a treat without making the BG line too distinctive, but it does work as presented too.
Mike: Good point about the softening of the line in PS
Gabriela: I like the rework, will have another look at my RAW file to guage the accuracy of the colours.
Morkel: I think the best option here might have been to use 500mm and not 700mm, to get more depth of field to start with, and stop down more. Still not quite sure what more DOF would have done to the light circular spots in the water though, but I guess that would have been fixable in PS.
Hippo pool
Valid point about the DOF. My only possible concern would be that more DOF might make the line in the back too defined?
Gabriela Plesea thanked for this post
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