Lone Kruger Bull

Gallery: WildlifePosted April 8, 2012165 views11 comments

I came across this large lone African Elephant bull one afternoon last year near a waterhole in the Kruger National Park. The area was nice and open and I was able to position the vehicle in such a way so as to make a low POV possible. The light was sweet as well!

He had just bathed himself which enhanced the texture and contrast on his skin.

Techs:
Nikon D3s with Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f5.6 @ 1/1000 SS @ ISO-1100 (auto-ISO)
slightly cropped for leveling of horizon

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Fabio Giarrizzo on April 8, 2012 at 7:12 AM

Great quality of light, an intense, relaxed pose and a fine composition on this one- I hope to see one of these fantastic animals in the wild someday- Excellent job, Fabio

Registered on December 3, 2010, 90 Posts, 1614 Comments

Comment posted by Ajit Huilgol on April 8, 2012 at 10:29 PM

The low angle is what makes this shot stand out. You've got the distant hills at just the right level and makes him look even more gigantic.

Registered on December 19, 2008, 302 Posts, 2055 Comments

Comment posted by Ellen deBoer on April 9, 2012 at 6:25 AM

Very nice image of this giant, Morkel! He is having some time for himself to think things over, so it seems. The low angle works well.

Registered on March 16, 2006, 419 Posts, 2076 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on April 9, 2012 at 7:54 AM

Hi Morkel,

Very sweet light on this one - brings out that texture very well (and this is a shot where one has to look at the larger version to really appreciate the level of detail and technical merits of the shot - real sweet). Depth of field - with the entire foreground in focus and the gradual fade to out-of-focus in the background, works real well for me. I also quite like the positioning of the trunk - nice curve for the eye to follow. My only very minor nit is that perhaps the elephant is a tad too centred horizontally for my taste - but obviously a very subjective "eye-of-the-beholder" kind of thing...

Cheers...thanks for sharing this one...nice to look at!

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on April 9, 2012 at 8:31 AM

Thank you very much for your comments, folks!

Brad - good point about the placement of the elephant. I considered it but didn't want to 'chop' the BG tree in half.

Registered on March 22, 2011, 385 Posts, 2068 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on April 9, 2012 at 9:29 PM

The low POV, the good BG separation and the lovely light make this a technically solid image Morkel. Yet, to me personally it does come across as a bit of mammal guide book type of pic (i.e. even if technically perfect it does not hold my interest). I do echo Brad's point about the comp, but also understand your decision about the tree and using a fixed FL lens there was not much else you could do.

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

Comment posted by Max Waugh on April 10, 2012 at 2:02 PM

Very nice. It's often harder than one would think to get them in the open like this. The light is fantastic. Those shadows help bring out the texture in the skin. I see Brad's point about the centered subject, but in this case it doesn't bother me as much as it normally might.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Oscar Benavides on April 10, 2012 at 5:19 PM

I really like the image. The light and the texture are great. I agree with you about not to cut the background tree.
Oscar

Registered on January 2, 2011, 12 Posts, 141 Comments

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on April 11, 2012 at 5:57 PM

Thank you for your honest feedback Vincent, Max and Oscar.
I agree it would've been nice if he'd done something "more exciting"