Silhouettes of Chobe

Gallery: WildlifePosted September 26, 2014168 views10 comments

Two young Elephant Bulls playing at sunset on one of the islands in the Chobe River just before crossing the river to join the rest of the herd and head back inland to spend the night.

EOS 1Dx - EF200-400mm F4.0L IS USM - 560mm - 1/800sec @ f6.3 - ISO 125

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on September 26, 2014 at 12:30 PM

Hi Mario,
Nice colours on this one, I have no idea whether you like cloning or find it acceptable, but wonder if trying to make the tree behind the left Elephants head
disappear would be worth a try.
Whatever I would consider cropping some from the bottom.

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by Ronald Murphy on September 26, 2014 at 1:07 PM

Beautiful mono-toned photo. I was going to suggest cloning away that tree, but then saw the first comment so I won't.

Registered on March 13, 2012, 279 Posts, 975 Comments

Comment posted by Thomas Haney on September 26, 2014 at 1:29 PM

Beautiful shot Mario, I love the overall color and feel of it. I don't mind the tree myself, but I might consider cropping it to a pano from the top.

Registered on April 7, 2013, 138 Posts, 537 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on September 26, 2014 at 3:29 PM

The colors are just awesome. No real nits from me.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Reed on September 26, 2014 at 5:14 PM

Mario, love the colour don't mind the tree...but would prefer a pano or 16 x 9 I think...either way great as posted.

Registered on September 19, 2009, 198 Posts, 1074 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Sandor on September 26, 2014 at 8:58 PM

Wow Mario, that's just excellent. Wonderful to see such a unique capture. Those curling trunks and silhouetted bodies are a treat. My only suggestion would be to level it. It looks like it's tilted a bit clockwise. Richard

Registered on January 12, 2014, 453 Posts, 1625 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on September 27, 2014 at 12:07 AM

A wonderful moment in sweet light you captured Mario

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on September 27, 2014 at 9:40 AM

Hi Mario,

I find this one very interesting. Graphically it's very appealing to me - and I do like its simplicity, especially in terms of the colour palette. I also really like how the frame is split and personally I wouldn't want to see this "pano-ified" (I quite like the positioning of the subjects and the horizon in the frame and the negative space supplied by the empty sky). Nicely done!

A few things on the "don't work as well" side include the tilted horizon (easily fixed - just needs about a 0.5˚ CCW rotation) and that tree under the head of the elephant on the left (tougher to deal with - not technically, but possibly "ethically" - for some).

One thing about the lighting confuses me a bit - if these elephants are strongly backlit (which they must be to be so strongly silhouetted), why aren't they casting dark shadows on the grass (which, logically, should also be darker)? I'm guessing (but could be wrong), you selectively darkened the elephants but didn't do so to the grassy "band" they're on? I guess what I'm saying is that while the contrast of the dark elephants is real nice graphically, without darker grass to my eye it looks a tad unnatural. Just thinking out loud...

Cheers...thanks for sharing this one...

Brad

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

Comment posted by David Bogener on September 28, 2014 at 1:29 PM

Very nice image. I would echo Ken's cloning suggestion. Consider a pano crop?

Registered on October 30, 2013, 417 Posts, 1255 Comments

Comment posted by Ajit Huilgol on September 29, 2014 at 1:33 AM

Beautiful image, Mario! My nit is the tree below the left elephant's head, just like everybody's!

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