The Knockout Blow
Australian Kangaroos battle for supremacy.
Australian Kangaroos battle for supremacy.
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Aperture f/0.0 ISO 1250 
Dec, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
As an avid wildlife photographer I'm always on the look out for wildlife action. I had seen a large mob of Eastern Grey Kangaroos (30 -40 individuals) just outside a noisy Defence Air Base west of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and thought I come back the next day to observe their behaviour.Time
After an early rise I headed back to this location and watched them interact with each other. The photo was taken at 7:10 am on 19 Mar 2011 on a cool Autumn (Fall) morning with a thin layer of cloud filtering the sun rising over my shoulder.Lighting
The early morning sun was rising behind me on the left and was filtering through a thin layer of cloud resulting in a soft light. No flash was used.Equipment
This photo was shot hand held using a Canon 7D with a Canon 100-400 mm L IS lens at 375 mm, ISO 1250, 1/320 sec @ f 5.6, natural light only.Inspiration
After seeing these kangaroos the day before I had a hunch they would be in the same location the next morning so headed out at to see if I could capture some sparing action. It was a relatively cool morning with a heavy dew covering the grass and this pair were kicking up some of that during their fight. You can just see some water droplets flying through the air near the post coming off the left kangaroo after succumbing to a savage kick from the other. I spent a good 3 hours watching the mobs antics.Editing
I shoot RAW + JPEG and use the JPEG as a reference for the scene captured and the RAW to produce the final image using Lightroom for post production processing. As a general rule I like to process the final image to as close to what I saw at time, restraining processing to cropping, tonal adjustments without adding or deleting artefacts from the scene. This allows me to meet the entry requirements of major world photo competitions like the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year. This image was a slight deviation to my normal workflow as I shifted the white balance temperature a little warmer than normal to enhance the dryness of the grass.In my camera bag
I'd love to say I have a nice prime 400 or 500 mm lens for wildlife photography however that is not the case, I find my Canon 1Dx and 70-200 mm 2.8 L IS and 100 - 400 mm L IS lenses often coupled with a 1.4x or 2x teleconverter is more than sufficient for the work I do. I also always travel with my trusty carbon fibre MeFoto tripod, 100 mm macro, 17 - 45 mm and 27 - 70 mm lenses for macro and landscape opportunities. Other essentials are spare memory cards, ND filters, cleaning cloths and batteries.Feedback
Check your camera gear to make sure you have everything for the shoot before leaving home. Wildlife can be challenging at the best of times and it's important to know the traits of the animals you are photographing especially if you want to get close to the action. Slow and steady is always the measure with kangaroos and wildlife generally, once they are familiar with you it is quite surprising how close you can get. These kangaroos in particular didn't mind me standing or squatting as I edged forward but became increasingly agitated if I sat or lay down and displayed threatening behaviour with grunts and snorts, so being at their eye level seemed to work best. Always have a planned escape route or defence strategy as those back legs can cause some significant damage if you happen to get in the way.
