Elephant Dawn

Gallery: WildlifePosted November 2, 2015110 views8 comments

The sun rises over the plains of the Mara Triangle as a lone elephant bull lazily grazes on the sweet red oat grass. I helped my guests capture this lovely scene one morning on our Wild Eye Great Migration photo safari in September.

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II @ 200mm
f5.6 | 1/250 SS | ISO-200

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on November 2, 2015 at 3:52 PM

Fantastic color, Morkel. I thought it was one of Mario's at first glance. enlightened

I like that you were able to bring out some of the subtle details on the elephant in spite of the silhouetted scene.

Max

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

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on November 2, 2015 at 7:58 PM

Gorgeous, evocative image. Perfect bit of rim lighting on the grasses, nice job of handling the exposure and a gorgeous subject

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on November 3, 2015 at 7:12 AM

Terrific frame, very nicely executed! Especially like golden blades of grass.
Jagdeep Rajput

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

Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on November 3, 2015 at 7:15 AM

Perfect backdrop for such a regal animal. Wonderful image.

Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments

Comment posted by John Launstein on November 4, 2015 at 3:57 AM

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Another Morkel masterpiece. What else is new? laugh

What is there to say, Morkel? This one is simply perfect. Spectacular tonal range and colour palette, perfect near-silhouette-but-not-quite, beautiful highlights in the grass...the list goes on.

Great field work and handling in post. 'Tis a beauty.

Registered on April 5, 2011, 223 Posts, 1193 Comments

Comment posted by Zack Clothier on November 4, 2015 at 9:52 PM

Beautiful image, Morkel, the sunbeams really take this up another level.

Registered on January 28, 2010, 343 Posts, 2257 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on November 9, 2015 at 8:12 AM

Hi Morkel,

Very nice...

For me the strength of this image is how well it was handled technically - both at exposure AND during post-processing. I see so many backlit shots where there is far too much shadow retrieval performed on the subject (to the point where they look flash-filled). Not here - and the end result is a great shot that appears very natural-looking.

Well done...

Cheers...

Brad

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

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on November 9, 2015 at 11:17 PM

Thanks for the kind comments, folks...

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