Wild dog

[Steve Kaluski]

Not the worlds greatest image and wish that I had taken it with the knowledge I now have.:)

Taken about 16 months ago in Lebala in the Kwando reserve, Botswana. Wild dogs are/can be very difficult to find, like most wildlife (and are in decline), however it was great to see them, albeit fleeting. This was the morning after the pack had despatched a kill the previous night so they were '(fat, sleepy, dogs, FSD's)'. I thought bears smelt bad, I thought the dead whale carcass was the tops, but these guys were in a class of their own!

Steve
MKIII 500f/4 1/320 f/5.6 ISO400 (hand held)

[Harshad Barve]

Excellent image Steve , lovely compo ,nice details and complementing BG
TFS

[Alfred Forns]

.. glad we don't have smell to go with the images :) Must be a real stinker !!!

Image still looks great Steve, razor sharp, well proportioned and appealing .. like the attentive look most of all !!!

[Todd Frost]

Nice portrait and very sharp. Well done on a dificult subject. TFS
Todd

[Morkel Erasmus]

I'd be very happy with this one Steve. great portrait. I like the BG as well - and might try to lift the levels on the dog and tone down the BG some more, just slightly

[Ken Watkins]

Steve,

I did not know you had been to Lebala, hope you had a good guide.
Best Wild Dog viewing in Africa, nearly always a siughting nowadays, although I must confess our first sighting in Lagoon was on our 22nd game drive, nowadays you can hardly avoid them.
Nice shot.

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks Morkel, but am happy with the overall balance, toning the BG down a tad just looks flat, guess this is where that old issue of how people view the image irrespective of calabration.;)

Hi Ken (wondered where you were?)

Hummmmm Lebala, well I was a little disappointed there sadly. The transfer from strip to camp was over 2hrs as the original strip had runway problems. Huge potholes!!! The driver was OC and the tracker was Julius. Very impressed with Julius and his skills as a tracker, but OC needed a bit of steering on his angles of approach to get the shots:)

Within 45 min of landing we found a pack of 10, then two days on we found this pack, but were all fed & watered so no real action:( The Buffalo had moved on and there was a lot of driving for little reward. Probably needed more that four days there, but other locations were calling.

cheers
Steve

[Stu Bowie]

Steve, good sharp detail, and a lovely profile shot. I agree with Morkel toning down the BG will work.

[Ken Watkins]

Hi Ken (wondered where you were?)

cheers
Steve

I am in Norwich working, just catching up today!

Cheers

Ken

[Steve Kaluski]

Well I am always open to suggestion. Probably didn't need the extra tad of USM:)

WDYT now guys?

Steve

[Ken Watkins]

Steve,

That's a lot better!!