Not quite sure what your thoughts and comments will be when you see this, but I am taking my chances. One of those 'moments in time' and I had no chance to plan anything, let alone change camera settings - just pressed the shutter once and the next moment my subjects dispersed. Techs are not what they should be... and also, I used a little 'imagination' in terms of PP work.
The Baboon world is one of domination but also affection. A lot of eye contact and body language which I love to capture whenever possible. For those of you who do not know, Chachma Baboons form large groups of 20 to 200 - BTW I counted at this sighting about 60. Females are the core of a group while males tend to migrate to new groups every now and then. There is a very strict hierarchy between adult females and their offspring, as well as 'kinship' groups of various ranks. Males remain in the group until they are about 4 years old - at this stage they become 'mature' and tend to dominate females, as well as males of lower ranking females. Adult females of lower rank are subordinate to the offspring of the dominant kinship matriarch. It's rather complicated, would you agree?
And I have not witnessed this behaviour yet but read a researcher's book that says a Baboon mother would carry a dead infant for days on end and show distress and a kind of mourning behaviour with the little limp body. So to me a fascinating subject to photograph whenever the opportunity arises, and especially when there's a little 'emotion' involved.
Here we have a mother embracing two youngsters of different ages. Would have loved to know which one was her own baby and understand the circumstances better, unfortunately - like I said above- I do not have more information for you as they separated immediately after I captured this scene.
Would like to know if this moves you in any way, and of course you are welcome to critique on any aspect you like. When it comes to techs, please understand I had no choice but to press the shutter because in my experience those moments are very brief...unlike with us humans, who can hug and look into each other's eyes forever
Nikon D4
Nikon 300 F4
ISO 3200
F5.6
1/400s
Used bean bag as support
Hope you all have a wonderful week ahead, and thank you so much for taking the time to view and comment
Kind regards,
Last edited by Gabriela Plesea; 10-06-2019 at 02:19 PM.
Hi Gabriela, what an intimate moment and great to see something different being posted.
I like the square format, it works and also how you have drawn the viewer in with the light, however have you tried an CCW rotation, it may just take on a different look????? I agree, sometimes you just have to go with the moment and techs go out the window, but I think you may have needed to be anywhere from f/11-16 to have done it justice, but then where might it have taken the SS and ISO, so go for it. Personally I might just use the Adjustment brush and blow in some Exposure (Burn) in to darken that top LH side. May be sampling some colour and using a luminosity Curves layer may also help on Mums nose and surrounding edges???? Just a thought.
Looks very good to me Gabriela, it took a couple of moments to realise there was a mum and two youngsters. The image is intriguing and I like the way you have illuminated the youngsters. I would personally have been more than happy with this, well done.
I like this it's something different. The framing works very well and i like the crop. Looks nice and sharp with good detail. Really enjoyed the backstory here. Pretty interesting.
Steve, I tried the rotation and changes you suggested - it all worked very well although I feel I ended up with a slightly different image in terms of what I was trying to portray. Interesting how a couple of changes can make such a difference...I really appreciate your time to help
Hi Gabriela -- Sorry for being so late on this one, but couldnt have missed it. I liked the crop and the closeness it depicts, definitely more dof would have yielded a different result , especially the details in your subjects but I feel it was important to capture the moment rather than fuss abt the techs. Liked your PP work as well, illuminating a single individual and keeping the focus on it.
I feel you could develop on this idea of yours next time you happen to encounter them.