Not exactly the best light or BG, but this was my first sighting of a Young Nyala.
Taken in Mokola National Park South Africa 20th April 2010
EOS 1D MkIV
500mm F4 hand-held from vehicle
F5.6, ISO800 (should have been lower), 1/4000
Not exactly the best light or BG, but this was my first sighting of a Young Nyala.
Taken in Mokola National Park South Africa 20th April 2010
EOS 1D MkIV
500mm F4 hand-held from vehicle
F5.6, ISO800 (should have been lower), 1/4000
Oh God , what a little cutie this is , Lovely pose and colors and I have zero problems shrubs and bushes around
TFS
Nice animal, my only problem is the bush in front of is legs.

Cute pose, good perspective, good light, good color. But bushes in front of legs.
Tom
Paul and Tom,
I am not in the habit of taking Wildlife images in anything other than wild areas, the manicured lawns of Sabi Sabi are not for me, nor are captive pets. Dumay says it well "Thats the African Bush for you". I find the obsession with "clean" images a little strange, this is a rare sighting:confused:
Last edited by Ken Watkins; 05-27-2010 at 10:23 PM.
This is a beautiful calf and I agree that wildlife photographers get more hung up on nits than almost anyone. In an uncontrolled environment sometimes we have to put up with back lighting, bushes, long grass etc. I'd be happy with this image in my collection.

Well, we can strive for perfection, can't we??
And if those are the kind of comments you -don't- want, if you consider it to be a record shot, then please say so in your first posting.
Also, I have very little knowledge of what is rare and what is not. Sorry, I'm not even close to knowing. I only know that the gestation period of an elephant is 22 months. You could show me a photo of the last blue three toed shrew on earth and I can only comment on the photo. In my ignorance I can not give such a photo credit for it being the last shot of last one alive.
Tom
Nice sighting. Cute fellow. This is a rare sight. You have already mentioned in the original post about the background. However, you have done well with the composition. The head being at the top of the frame minimises the impact of the out of focus bush at the bottom. If the head of the Nyala would have been close to the centre, then it would have appeared more distracting. Furthermore, the bushes at the bottom and the right without any gap inbetween them ensures that our attention goes to the head of the Nyala.
Also at times for the fear of disturbing the subject, we don't move. Having said that, an animal cannot be divorced from its environment. If a certain species is found in dense bushes and not in grasslands, then expecting clean backgrounds may not be right. In such cases, it is better to use a narrow aperture to get more depth of field and hence more of the species available in that area. Magazine editors of nature magazines would prefer to show more of the habitat.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi
Sabyaschi,
Thanks I think you have explained the position in a far more understandable manner.:)

AF - got the message.
Tom
Ken - I really like this shot of a rare animal. I get a kick out of seeing the ears going in different directions. I also support the leave it natural school of thought. In fact, I've spent lots of money to see these animals in their natural habitat so that's what I want my photos to be of too.
Thanks,
Rachel
This is an interesting conversation and I can't resist offer my 2 cents worth.
Portrait, environmental, habitat and behavioral images are just a few of the nature photography "styles" I enjoy.
Critiques can be tough with so many "styles", species and techniques being presented.
From my experience it is a great help to the member offering a critique if the image owner provides some details about the species (like it's rare etc.) and most important their thought process.
Rather than assume the image author's objective, on many occasions I have asked the image owner what their thought process was or what they wanted to present as a final image.
With images like this, I am a huge fan of (when possible) stopping down and including foreground elements as part of my subject/composition. Rather than having an image of an animal with a distracting OOF foreground element, you present an image of the animal in it's habitat. Both animal and foreground element become your subject.
Telephoto lens distribute the zone of focus equally in front and behind what i\t is focused on.
I will use my AF lock button to manually focus my lens with the DOF button pressed in. I then roll the zone of focus forward, making sure that my main subject stays sharp, at the back of the zone of focus.
James, very good advice for adding posting information, thank you. Also good methodology for composing images.
James,
That is an interesting method, and one that I would not have thought of. Given the short time I had whilst the "calf" was in view and it was moving I just took what I could. Unfortunately I am not very good or reactive when changing settings:)