Cape Vulture vs Black-backed Jackal

[Hendri Venter]

I created this image at Giants Castle in the Drankenberg, South Africa. The Jackal came to snatch the bone (which I cloned out) from the Vulture and when the vulture flew up I got this. Full Frame side to side. Pity about the clipped wings and closed eyes from the Jackal.

Canon ID MKIII
Canon 500mm F4 IS + 1.4 TC :o
Aperture Priority
F8
ISO 800
SS 1/2500
Exposure -0.3 step

[Jonathan Ashton]

Great shot, bags of impact. I am not too sure about your disappointment with the eyes - I think most animals would shut them if they saw this bird coming toward them at speed! I think they add to the drama.
I sense there are some slightly sharp edges on the vulture's right wing?

[Axel Hildebrandt]

This makes the vulture look quite large. I don't mind the closed eyes, it actually makes me wonder what is going on there.

[Gen Benjamin]

Wonderful image. I think the clipped wings gives the vulture a larger status in the image and the closed eyes of the Jackel adds to the story telling of the image. I love it just as it is, all though I would have liked to see what it looked like with out the bone cloned out.
Gen

[Joe Senzatimore]

Wing tips and eyes aside this is a great capture. Why did you clone out the bone? I think it might be an important part of the story told by the image.

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Hendri, I think you did a great job here of capturing a powerful moment of interaction. I really liked the DOF that you got, the sharp detail, good exp, and BG. Using a fixed lens means that these disappointments can happen too easily when it comes to clipping body parts, but I still think you did very well with your capture. It tells a story and is truly an 'action' shot
TFS
grant

[Kiran Poonacha]

great moment captured in great light and setting... I think the bone would have added to the action...

[Hendri Venter]

Thanks for the kind comments guys. The bone was machine cut and does not look natural hence my decision to remove it.

[Fabs Forns]

What a combo! Agree with your self critique, but very impressive anyway.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

This is quite stunning. dont mind the closed eyes at all. whatever needs to be sharp is and whatever needs to be blurred is....thx for sharing.

[Jim Fenton]

Hard to comment on this one as it confuses my brain or my eyes or something.

The subject looks dis proportionally large compared to the cliff platform where it typically would feed and like a dinosaur compared to the size of a jackal.

I understand the vulture has an 8' wing span but the jackal kinda looks like a tiny rabitt relative to the main subject?

Is the vulture actually closer to your position than the jackal by a fair bit?

[Doug Brown]

Excellent self-critique. The vulture looks absolutely enormous next to the jackal! The bird's head gets a little lost in the plumage. Otherwise very nice!

[arash_hazeghi]

vulture does look huge compared to the jackal, must be telephoto compression playing tricks on the eye! very nice sharpness on both! would love to see what the original capture looked like.

[James Salywoda]

Fantastic Shot Hendri I really like the whole composition. Really very nice.

[Morkel Erasmus]

you're keeping the good shots back I see!! top interaction Hendri...pity about the wingtips but you know you shouldn't have had the TC on ;):D

these vultures are enormous and the jackal looks like a sub-adult (very thin tail) so I'm not sure it's a visual trick played by telephoto compression...

[Hendri Venter]

Thanks you all for your comments. Yes the vulture was slightly closer to the camera.