Tug of War

[Rachel Hollander]

A different kind of African struggle. These 2 wild dog pups were playing and struggling over a scrap of something, not sure whether it was food, a stick or something else. Taken on my 2009 trip to the Sabi Sands, South Africa.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 400mm
1/320
f6.3
ISO 200
HH from a safari vehicle, cropped to pano to lessen effect of oof adult in bg, cloned out hotspot, slight shadow adjustment and sharpened in CS5.

C&C welcome and appreciated.

Thanks,
Rachel

[Dumay de Boulle]

Lovely moment with the soft textures of the fur. Love how the paw is covering the face of the left Wild Dog

[Steve Kaluski]

Exquisit moment captured Rachel, love the interaction here.

Can't really comment in depth, as viewing on laptop, however initial impressions, I like this one very much because it has real 'character' with a good POV.

TFS
Steve

[Robert Amoruso]

I like the paw over the eye - nice cuteness factor here.

I would suggest more sharpening of the pups.

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Excellent action and also like the paw over the eye. I find the BG a bit busy though. Their fur look so soft, very cute TFS

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Dumay, Steve, Robert and Vivaldo for the kind comments and suggestions. It was a fun moment captured.

Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

superb moment captured here Rachel - nicely framed too
I agree with Robert, a slight touch more sharpening needed as well as a hint of contrast IMHO

[Brendan Dozier]

Very nice interactive comp, Rachel. Like the POV, texture of fur, and pano crop works well.
Nice work!

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Rachel, wonderful interaction captured here, of some very cute pups. I am with Dumay on the paw position...it makes the shot for me. They did come across very cute and cuddly too, so well done on that count too. I think that you could make this shot even stronger by toning down the bright patches of BG under the dogs chins, and toning down or cropping out that very bright patch of fur on the lhs dog back...
TFS
Grant

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Morkel, Brendan and Grant. Here's a repost with the highlights on the back of the left pup and in the bg below cloned and/or toned down, a slight boost in contrast and another round of selective sharpening applied to the pups.

Thanks again,
Rachel