Wild Dog Water Crossing

[Grant Atkinson]

Canon 1Dmk4, Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS II, handheld. S/s 1/2500s, aperture 5.6, iso 640. Cropped to 10mp. Toning and sharpening done in ACR and CS5. This was one of a pack of wild dogs that I photographed at Chitabe camp during a recent photosafari. The dogs chose to use one place to cross over this channel, which meant that I was able to position and wait for them to come through. The dogs come hard through the water due to the possible threat of crocodiles. Light was getting bright, which helped to provide the fast shutter speed needed to freeze the action.
I have been away on trip for a while, and will be away again in 4 days time, but will try catch up on the forum where and when I can.
cheers
Grant

[Morkel Erasmus]

Grant, very good to see you posting again - assume your computing issues have been somewhat resolved??

This image rocks in every respect...wish it was mine!
Some might bemoan the central placement of the dog but it was necessary to include the big splash I would think?

[Pieter de Waal]

Superb image Grant, has it all - motion, habitat and a great subject. I also like the head position with the eyes focused ahead. TFS.

[Brendon Cremer]

Great image and sighting Grant, action with the splash is well frozen and the position of the dog is great too......wd.

Im going to be in Bots on a couple of safaris from the 20th for about 4 weeks, in and out of Kasane every now and then, let me know if you in the area

[Deborah Harrison]

Hi Grant, Wonderful capturing the wild dog in good light. And more unusual still getting the dog in water! A lovely image, no doubt will see it soon in print!

Nice.....

[Rachel Hollander]

Grant - fantastic capture and IQ looks great. The comp and splash work for me. Looks like his tail may be short or is it just the angle?

TFS,
Rachel

[Robert Amoruso]

Grant, well done for the reasons previous mentioned.

[Marc Mol]

Superb water action captured here Grant, one of your best WD images posted here.
Took the liberty of running a lumo mask @ 75% opacity, taking out some of that slightly harsh light and giving it that extra pop. Let me know what you think?
TFS

[Ofer Levy]

Fantastic image and the repost looks even better IMHO!

[Grant Atkinson]

Thanks for the comments Morkel, Pieter, Brendon, Deborah, Rachel and Robert. Morkel, you are correct, the central crop was to include just a little of the big splash, there was more that I cropped out. I have more space all around, although the background in front of the dog that I cropped out starts to get a little busy. Also Morkel, my computer issues are temporarily corrected, but despite having a fully licenced and lega and registeredl version of CS5, I find myself working on a 30 day trial version as a result of the ram crash on my laptop and the fact that my original CS5 disk was stolen about a year ago. Rachel, the dogs tail is all in place but the white part of it is turned away from my position. I have lots of frames of this dog, and he is full-tailed, although I can see what you are talking about in the image. He was partly wet already and perhaps that also reduced the brushy tail effect?
Marc and Ofer, thanks for the comments and repost. Marc, your repost is less contrasty than the one I posted, and it does look nice. However I purposefully bumped the contrast using an adjust brush mask in ACR on the dog as so often when I post on BPN somebody will repost my shot with more contrast added. This time it went the other way. Thanks for taking the time to rework and repost. My version of the image for print has less contrast added to the dog...I seldom get everybody happy on BPN with contrast and colour work

[Grant Atkinson]

Brendon I will be staying in the Chobe for a couple nights early next week, otherwise will be moving between Dumatau, Savuti, Tubu Tree and Little Vumbura between now and end of October... cheers
Grant

[Harshad Barve]

Fantastic image and the repost looks even better IMHO!

Plus one here
TFS

[Stu Bowie]

Good action captured across the water Grant, and I like the raised left leg. Good colours on the wild dog, and I do like Marc's repost. Ive just returned from 6 days in the Mashatu reserve, but would love to go into the areas you have mentioned above. Cheers.

[ramesh anantharaman]

The is a really good action capture. Love the pose and the splash. I do like the repost.

[Marina Scarr]

Love the action portrayed here, and the repost is a tad better. The water splash and lifted leg is awesome. Think it needs a tad of CW rotation.

[Grant Atkinson]

thanks Harshad, Stuart, Marina and Ramesh for taking the time to view and write..
cheers
Grant

[Dumay de Boulle]

This is fantastic...I love the pose ad splashes. Details are great and the repost takes it over the top. Fine image Grant

[Steve Kaluski]

Well executed Grant, although you might have a few others in the bag that might just tip the scales I guess.

TFS
Steve