One species that never fails to delight along the banks of the Chobe river is the Chacma Baboon. Early morning is usually a good time to find the local troops moving along the edge of the water, foraging, playing, scuffling, grooming and generally just being baboons. Keeping these energetic encounters in your frame while on a drifting boat requires some practice, but the built-in gimbal systems on the customised photographic boat makes this easier than you would think!
Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
1.4x teleconverter
f7.1 | 1/1000 SS | ISO-1250
Comments
3 commentsExcellent stop action & detail Morkel, I like this setting at waters edge..
I especially like the POV and bits of sand flying about. Very nice
Hi Morkel,
Good capture. Any shot of sparring and/or fighting animals is compelling, and this shot is no exception. Great that you captured both sets of eyes (just barely on the baboon on the left). Very cool.
I'm wondering when or if the day will come when a gimbal will be developed that can match my (or anyone's) wrists, elbows, and shoulders in terms of smoothness of movement, shock-absorbency, and effectiveness when shooting from an unstable surface! As one who has spent months of his life shooting out of a Zodiac in all sorts of conditions I've really found that keeping one's camera UN-connected to the moving watercraft helps tremendously in terms of upping the ratio of sharp-unsharp shots. Of course, the hand-holding approach introduces a host of other issues, including muscle fatigue and tiredness! Thankfully long lenses are getting lighter - and optical stabilization systems better - all the time...
Cheers...
Brad
Makes my ear hurt to look at this. Very nice action capture, in great habitat. Well-composed for something happening as fast as a critter right. Very nice.