By Mother's Side
I took this photo while on expedition in Tarangire National Park in the Karatu District of Tanzania. My fellow student s and I were studying the activity patter...
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I took this photo while on expedition in Tarangire National Park in the Karatu District of Tanzania. My fellow student s and I were studying the activity patterns of elephants and I snapped this shot as a mother and juvenile were walking away.
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Apr, 2015Views
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
Tarangire National Park, Karatu, Arusha, Tanzania while studying elephant activity patterns as part of my study abroad experience. There were literally hundreds of elephants in the park and it was magnificent to see them in a natural environment. These two were actually near the edge of the park within a km of people illegally grazing their cattle.Time
I took this photo in the late afternoon as this was one of the last groups we observed. This photo was actually taken as they were leaving.Lighting
It was slightly cloudy when I took this shot, rare for the African savannah during the dry season (the shot was taken in October). However, the sunset was poking through some clouds farther away so the light kind of bounced around beneath the clouds and was actually pretty good.Equipment
I used a Canon Rebel t2i that is the camera I have learned on and taken all my photos with and a Canon 100-400 mm telephoto from on top of our safari car. I used a half-empty travel pillow as a bean bag to prevent resting my lens on the hard metal bars.Inspiration
I like animal butts. I mean really, look at a zebra from behind next time you get the chance I was actually aiming to take a funny photo of two elephant rears. However, when I looked at the picture, it turned out surprisingly sweet instead of funny.Editing
Very little. This is actually one of the photos from my time n Africa that I did the least editing on. To challenge myself, I try to aim for the perfect photo before processing; it forces me to think more about my settings, framing, etc. For this shot, in Lightroom 4, I bumped up the clarity and added a slight vignette to draw the viewer's eye more to the center.In my camera bag
For my time in Africa, I had my ol' reliable Rebel t2i, a Canon 17-55 USM for landscapes, and my 100-400 to get some close ups or animals far off in the distance. I also had my GoPro and a hotshoe adapter so I could fit it on top of my camera. I took a couple of GoPro shots to show people what I was aiming at when I took pictures (beyond the picture itself). I also had A LOT of wipes, brushes, and cloths. Africa is very dusty. I left my flash, flash bouncer, and tripod at home for this trip.Feedback
I like to wait for my photos. I know the commonly accepted rule of thumb is take a lot of photos and throw away the bad ones but sometimes I found myself spending more time looking through the viewfinder than just watching. Yes, it led to me missing some really cool shots but I also got to have some more memories of just observing. Moreover, i like the challenge of anticipating something. Again, as a novice photographer that is learning by doing, I want to practice my skills, trigger finger being one of them.
