Pups of the Linyanti Pack

[Grant Atkinson]

Canon 5Dmk2, Canon 300mmf2.8is lens, handheld from vehicle. S/speed 1/200s at F/4.0. Iso 1600. Metering Eval. No cropping. Ai Servo focus. Subject dist. 14m. Location Savuti Bush Camp. 5 Nov 2010, 18h30pm. Processed in ACR6, CS5. Selective toning. The middle pup has dried mud on his neck which shows up badly in the resized image as it falls against the brightest part of his coat. The wild dogs in the image here are three of four pups belonging to a pack of wild dogs in this area known as the Linyanti pack. They were watching something far off that caught their attention.
All C and C welcome.
cheers
Grant

www.grantatkinson.com

[Harshad Barve]

Gotta love those eyes and ears Grant :) OOF dog adds much here to my taste , excellent image
TFS

[Grant Atkinson]

Thanks Harshad, the OOF dog was one of the adults, keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings...
cheers
Grant

[Billy White]

Grant - I too like the oof dog - the ears are the best - we hope to see scences like this next year when we come to Savuit

best

Bill

[Ken Watkins]

Grant,

When you say Linyanti pack, what do you mean? Is this one of the breakaway packs from Kwando Lagoon?


The dogs themselves seem to lack detail in their fur, judging by your specs it must have been quite dark

[Danny J Brown]

Hey Grant,

The three lined up with the alert look on their faces and those huge ears make for a priceless image.....love it! I would like it better without the adult in the background but it sounds like I'm in the minority so far. I can't get enough of these wild dog shots from you and Marc and others. Thanks.

DB

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Grant, a nice, clean image and well processed as there seems to be a good balance of 'blacks' running through, giving a good tonal range around the head and body. Yes, it doesn't look pin sharp, but at ISO1600 it's a good image. The alert expression/pose with those satellite dishes for ears is priceless and the eyes look good too.

I'm with Danny though on not having the dog in the BG in, but as it was shot this way so be it, any more image above the crop as it's a tad tight to the ears of the WD in the BG? If there was a chance of a lower POV I would have liked that Grant.

Hope you have email back-up and running more smoothly now. :D

TFS
Steve

[Stu Bowie]

I really like the attentive poses from the three pups, especially with the pricked up ears. I feel the OOF adult doesnt add much to the image.

[Steve Canuel]

Nice poses from the three and interesting being able to see the differences in the color patterns side by side.

[Egil Droge]

For me the dog in the background tells a lot about the wild dogs nature! They are very alert.
If you're lucky enough to see them in the wild just pay some attention to it. When they're resting they almost always cover their whole surrounding with their ears and eyes, there's always at least one dog facing each direction. Same when they're feeding there's 90% of the time at least one dog looking around.
The fact that the dog in the background looks in a different direction than the pups is a perfect example of this typical behaviour of wild dogs.
So for me the dog in the background is +.

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi there all, thanks for the comments. Seems split on whether the OOF dog should be in or out, but as he was there, I'll keep him. I only just got the top of his ears in. Steve, I would have liked to get a bit lower but by the time I drove closer, they were all playing and never lined up like this again. It isnt my sharpest image, but given that there was very little light left, it came out quite well. After this we only had enough light left to try for motion blurs...
Cheers
Grant

[Todd Frost]

Nicely composed. I like the oof adult and also see cropping (pano) and evicting the legs of the adult (if you have a mind to) for a strong presentation as well.
TFS
Todd

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi there all, thanks for the comments. Seems split on whether the OOF dog should be in or out, but as he was there, I'll keep him. I only just got the top of his ears in. Steve, I would have liked to get a bit lower but by the time I drove closer, they were all playing and never lined up like this again. It isnt my sharpest image, but given that there was very little light left, it came out quite well. After this we only had enough light left to try for motion blurs...
Cheers
Grant

[ken dyball]

Hi Grant, good to see a good clear image of these beautys, the dog in the background dosn't concern me & i think adds some depth to the image,
nicely spotted

Cheers

www.africanatureimages.com

[Hilary Hann]

I really like the composition here and feel that the oof dog does add to the image as an illustration of dog behaviour. Would have liked a bit more room above the ears but would be happy to have taken this.

[Marc Mol]

Love the inquisitive nature of this trio Grant. OOF WD really adds to the story.
TFS

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Hilary, you are right, I did cut it a bit tight on the top OOF dogs ears, consequence of me using centre AF point only in low-light on the 5Dmk2, and not locking up focus and recomposing properly, whoops.
As of now the votes are In Favour of OOF animals in BG..:).
Thanks for looking and commenting everyone...much appreciated
cheers
Grant

[Rachel Hollander]

Grant - amazing that they all lined up for you. Well done and I think I'm in the camp that thinks the oof adult adds to the shot, although it's hard to tell without seeingit both ways.

TFS,
Rachel

[Russell Johnson]

Great shot, Grant.

The colouration on the dog on the left looks similar to the pup that I saw in the Kwando last month.

Would be interested to compare!

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Russell, it is possible that they are the same dog but unlikely. There is one adult member of this pack with a tracking collar fitted and they don't seem to go any further west than Zarafa camp in the Selinda concession. Their range to the east goes as far as the Chobe enclave, a west-east distance of 85km, but they havent been moving that far or fast with these new pups yet. I probably have images of both sides of the pups so have a look, always good to check...or email me a pic and i will compare with what i have.:)
thanks for your comments
cheers
grant

[Russell Johnson]

Thanks, Grant.

The pack had no collared dogs....and was probably the Selinda Pack.

Edit* Have just had a look at some pictures the other half took. Hers give a better view of the same side in the image. Markings look very similar. Will post some on FB just to confirm with you.