Savute Marsh Elephants

Very much like the low angle of view you have on this pair Morkel. The shadows you managed to capture in the subject on the left adds another level of visual dimension, which I find very pleasing.

My Big Trip is also coming up in August, so I can well appreciate your sense of excitement :^)

Maybe its just me but there seems to be more than 2 ears on the elephant facing the camera The shadow of its right ear seems to fall on what looks like another ear Further there seems to be a couple of stray shadow streaks on the top of the other elephants head.

I have never seen an african elephant in person and i might be imagining things, but i thought i would let you know anyway.

Thanks Ashley and Anand.

Anand...regarding your queries:
1. The "second ear" is an optical illusion. The elephant on our LHS was flapping his ears, and the curl of the bottom part of the ear threw a shadow back on the earflap.
2. The dark patches on the RHS elephant's head are there in the RAW file too. The rightmost one is a bit of shadow of the curled earflap on the skull, and the leftmost one is inexplicable to me right now, just know it's part of the original scene, maybe a skin blotch or scab or something from an injury.

Thanks for the explanation. The right ear makes perfect sense now. I should have been more observant.

Hey Morkel,

I don't know - I kinda liked the two-ear theory better than the real explanation. What's that old saying? Never let the truth get in the way of a good story??

Simple and clean - that always works well for me. And I'm in agreement that the low angle of view adds a lot here - and the light does add subtle (yet important) shadows here. When you say "golden afternoon light" I think "low angle light" which makes me wonder if this image would pop a little more if the exposure was backed off just a little (probably no more than 1/2 stop and possibly a little less). The only reason I mention this is that the brightness here (not the shadows) makes me think "mid-day light" not golden light? Just a thought...take it for what it's worth...

Cheers...

Brad

Like the pano crop and the oof vegetation in the foreground.

Thanks Brad, Dan and Anand.

Brad - the time of capture according to EXIF says 17:09 but I hear you, toning down exposure will probably improve this...here's an attempt?

Wonderful pano composition and I like the overall detail in the larger version, the light in the first image seems fine to me, well done.