Hippo Threat Display

[Nate Chappell]

Hi everyone, I photographed this lone male hippo from an island in the middle of the Okavango River in NE Namibia last September. The guide said that he was showing us he was the boss. About 80% of FF

MkIII 500F4 1/1000 F7.1 iso 640, evaluative metering at 0.

[Steve Canuel]

Hi Nate,
Great color, detail, lighting, and action. Nice to have a clear look at the eye too. Not completely convinced but I think I'd take a little off the right (as viewed) to just to the right of the crease/roll. Excellent image.

[Grady Weed]

Yep! I love watching the NG about Africa's wildlife. These guys can be real mean and you don't want to be in reach of them when they go off! You nailed this water and the action of "I'm the boss". Excellent capture. BPN rocks! Where else do you get this kind of action.

[Stephen Stephen]

Wondeful image Nate. Great details and exposure. I'd keep the image as posted. You can follow the splash from its start in the water's surface.

[denise ippolito]

Stunning!! Great action captured and lots of details-Well done.

[David Thomasson]

What a great capture -- and a convincing display of "being the boss"!

I would suggest "pulling" the light away from the background and onto the subject a little more. Something like this:

[Ken Watkins]

That is a good capture, perhaps a little more head turn may have been nicer. I presume that it was a resonable sized boat (hopefully), where were you staying?

[Nate Chappell]

Thanks Ken, we were standing on an island in the river, the guide was quite confident the hippo was going to stay in the water. The boat was moored on the other side of the island. We were staying at Ngepi Camp near Mahango.

Thanks for your repost David.

[DanWalters]

Great action. Really like the splashing water surrounding the hippo. Nice color and light as well.

[Simon Bennett]

Wonderful action and splash of water.

[Fabs Forns]

Perfect timing, Nate. I like David's idea to concentrate more on the subject.
Was it scary????

[david cramer]

Dramatic action. I like the suggestion to burn the background.

[Nate Chappell]

Thanks for your comments, it wasn't scary for me, but my wife, Angie was a little bit scared.

[Alfred Forns]

No question about who is boss !!! Powerful animal !

The splash makes all the difference, excellent timing Nate. Great suggestion by David !!!

[Ed Cordes]

Grat action as was said by many. I totally agree with David's suggestion of darkening the BG a bit.

[Mike Lentz]

Fantastic image! I like the idea of darkening the BG and lightening the subject! One of my favorite PS manuevers.