I see you!

Gallery: WildlifePosted January 11, 2012104 views3 comments

Shot in the Kgalagadi National Park. This young Hyena was lying under a bush and was just watching me taking pictures. I ilke the serious look in its eye. I decided to convert the image to black and white as the light was quite harsh and I couldn't get a lot of color from the subject. I chose a 1:1 crop as the subject presented itself better in this orientation.

Canon 1D MKiV
Canon 500mm f/4.0
1/320
F/7.1
ISO 800

Comments

3 comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on January 13, 2012 at 10:47 AM

I really don't understand why this has not received a single comment yet?! Come on fellow NPN'ers!

Neal, I think your choice to go B&W was probably a very wise one; this way you created an image that does work, whereas I can imagine the color one would not. I find the pose with the stretched out legs, the look in its eyes and the detail very appealing. The top part of the image is less appealing due to the burnt out highlights and I feel a 2:3 horizontal crop would therefore work better. Thanks for sharing this, I wish these creatures would always be so relaxed and out during the day.

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Luca Mussato on January 19, 2012 at 3:49 PM

Hyaenas are those kind of animals you love or you hate, there's not half way. This portrait has its appeal maybe because of its BW conversion, you make a good choice in my opinion. The only thing is, if you don't want to cut part of the upper side try to selectively reduce the highlights in the upper BG, personal opinion anyway.

Cheers, Luca

Registered on November 14, 2006, 118 Posts, 855 Comments

Comment posted by Lucy Aron on January 23, 2012 at 5:45 PM

Nice to see a photo of a hyena that reflects a kind of sweetness. Unusual in such a maligned species. Great low angle too.

lucy

Registered on February 25, 2011, 189 Posts, 1160 Comments