Super Impala!

Gallery: WildlifePosted September 17, 2011217 views15 comments

During our recent trip to the Kruger National Park, I came up early one morning to a spot close to a natural waterhole where I was on a very low level relative to a herd of impala who were making their way towards the water.

While I was photographing them, some of the antelopes became excited and started leaping, dashing and bounding past me. I tried to get a focus on one of them and track him through the small mopani shrubs that dotted the landscape.

I was very happy with this frame. The angle is nice and low, the autumn colours came out nicely, the pose is just right for me and the light is sweet. I know it's a tad tight at the top, but it's edge-of-frame out-of-camera there. I only cropped slightly from the bottom and LHS.

Techs:
Nikon D3s with Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f5.6 @ 1/1600 SS @ ISO-800

Comments

15 comments

Comment posted by Gary Marquart on September 17, 2011 at 7:15 PM

Nice actin capture, great DOF on the Impala, and the exposure looks good to me. Agree a little more room at the top would have been nice but good that you got all of the Impala.

Registered on October 24, 2009, 126 Posts, 799 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on September 17, 2011 at 9:03 PM

Terrific action shot! It's faster than a speeding bullet....

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on September 17, 2011 at 10:35 PM

Terrific action shot !!! I agree with your view that it is tight at the top, but some canvas can be added there.

Jagdeep Rajput

Registered on April 29, 2008, 686 Posts, 2857 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on September 17, 2011 at 11:27 PM

Perfect angle of view Morkel, as is the angle of direction you captured the Impala leaping in. Beautiful shot!

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments

Comment posted by Anand Narayanan on September 18, 2011 at 1:28 AM

Terrific shot

Jaw dropping stuff. Such opportunities dont often present themselves. You made an absolute killer shot out of it.

Registered on October 25, 2009, 110 Posts, 835 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on September 18, 2011 at 2:05 PM

Pinsharp action shot Morkel. Excellent work tracking this fast animal. I do wish for a sliver more on top. With content aware scaling that could be easily achieved if you wanted to.

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

Comment posted by Jenaya Launstein on September 18, 2011 at 3:15 PM

Wow, great timing! I sure wish this was mine! I do agree that a little more room on top would be great, but its still an awesome image. I like your choice of DOF, there is some very nice detail.

Registered on February 8, 2011, 254 Posts, 1302 Comments

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on September 18, 2011 at 4:23 PM

Thanks very much for the responses, folks.

Vincent - I am aware of that function in PS but I prefer to leave these just as they were shot...

...motivation to try again anyway!

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

Comment posted by Richard Olsen on September 18, 2011 at 5:07 PM

Looks like you worked your auto focus overtime on this one!!
Excellent capture!

Registered on October 19, 2006, 306 Posts, 1571 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Walters on September 18, 2011 at 5:51 PM

Great timing! Very sharp and I like the grasses under the subject.

Registered on October 30, 2005, 405 Posts, 3693 Comments

Comment posted by Sally King on September 18, 2011 at 6:55 PM

Very nice action and very sharp. I didn't know that impala could fly.

Registered on December 2, 2008, 416 Posts, 4450 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on September 20, 2011 at 1:10 AM

Morkel, like you said the top is a bit tight and do wish there was a tad more room, but is certainly doesn't ruin the image either because the action is awesome! Nice job...tracking one of these cannot be an easy task and you did splendid form what I see here.

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Guy Runco on September 20, 2011 at 9:08 PM

Great action capture. Maybe a bit more room above the horns would be nice, as you've already mentioned, but nice shot nonetheless.

Registered on September 9, 2008, 77 Posts, 705 Comments

Comment posted by Roman Kurywczak on September 23, 2011 at 12:20 PM

Hey Morkel,
You know I love this one!!! Yeah.....a hair more room up top as you mentioned....but the degree of difficulty is high and you nailed it!

Registered on November 20, 2009, 56 Posts, 748 Comments

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on October 25, 2011 at 3:38 PM

Thanks folks!

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