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A Gathering of Elephants
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A Gathering of Elephants

by Joe James

Gallery: WildlifePosted December 1, 2013534 views6 comments
This one is a bit of a wildcard post but I'm curious what people think. While we were in Hwange NP, Zimbabwe last summer there would be a daily parade of animals in the afternoon at the camp waterhole. The waterhole is too far away to get good close up shots from camp but did afford some nice landscape with animal shots. On this day a large herd of elephants took over the waterhole so I decided to try a large panoramic with the goal of getting all of the elephants in sight into a single scene. This panoramic consists of 12 individual, vertically oriented frames shot at 400mm from in front of our dining tent. It is a continuous shoot, lasting perhaps a minute in total. I had to wait until the elephants had gathered in smaller groups to provide enough "elephant free" spots for seams. The uncompressed version is 109 MB and measures 122 x 19 inches which is probably too wide for most folks.

As always, thanks for looking and thanks for any C&C you may have.

Location: Davison's Camp Waterhole in Hwange NP, Zimbabwe
Canon EOS 6D
Canon 100-400 @ 400
ISO 640, F20, 1/400 sec

Link to a larger version (hope it works):
http://naturescapes.smugmug.com/Travel/Southern-Africa-2013/Zimbabwe-Hwange-NP/30936331_vj3BKv#!i=2675560644&k=V5wJvbK&lb=1&s=A

Comments

6 comments
Comment posted by Ken Watkins on December 1, 2013 at 11:43 PM
Joe,
I think it is impossible to judge this from the post here, but I am quite sure it would look good on a wall :toast: :toast:
Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments
Comment posted by John Tobias on December 2, 2013 at 7:58 PM
I agree need a much larger venue to show this image. Looks good as posted. Thanks for sharing.
Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments
Comment posted by Genny K. on December 3, 2013 at 9:59 PM
I think it's really neat. It gives context and environment to the elephants. And it's different. :toast: Not like the normal portrait we often see of wildlife. I like seeing their environs.
I think it's fascinating. You may need a really big wall for it, though. :biggrin:
Registered on June 5, 2006, 132 Posts, 2001 Comments
Comment posted by Joe James on December 3, 2013 at 10:18 PM
Thanks folks, this was definitely an experiment. Hwange is such a super special place and I'm so glad Ken convinced us to include it in our trip last July....thanks Ken!
Registered on November 20, 2009, 89 Posts, 808 Comments
Comment posted by Ken Watkins on December 4, 2013 at 12:37 AM
James,

The link definitely works, everyone should go to Hwange, as long as they do not fully book my camp site :biggrin:
Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments
Comment posted by Miro Susta on December 5, 2013 at 9:35 PM
Excellent wildlife photo, perfectly framed in panoramic format. Well done Joseph. :smile:
Registered on August 18, 2006, 719 Posts, 3736 Comments