Matriarchs
Elephants in Mthethomusha Reserve, South Africa. This is the matriarch and a friend, sister, daughter, or other relative - it's difficult to tell which. This wa...
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Elephants in Mthethomusha Reserve, South Africa. This is the matriarch and a friend, sister, daughter, or other relative - it's difficult to tell which. This was taken on an evening game drive.
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Jul, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
Mthethomusha reserve, Mpumalanga , South Africa, in an area the guides called Elephant Valley. I can't think why...Time
Less than an hour to sunset. It was on late afternoon game drive. The tracker spotted these, part of a group of about eight, from the other side of the valley while we were still in direct sunlight. Our guide drove us round, leaving the sun behind the surrounding hills. These twpo are, as far as I could understand, the group's matriach (front) with her daughter behind.Lighting
Natural ambient but light; in the golden hour but in shade away from direct sunset light. It was lightest to camera left. The light was fading fast but gave good definition of the creases in the skin.Equipment
Olympus OM-D E-M5 and 75-300 f4.8-6.7 II. Handheld, but I would have preferred a monopod; tripods are next to useless in a typical safari vehicle. 164mm, 1/100s, f6.3, ISO1600. Uncropped. The light was close to the usable limit for this sort of shot with the 75-300 with it's relatively small maximum aperture.Inspiration
When you get this close to elephants it's difficult not to be inspired! They are truly magnificent, and up-close truly awe-inspiring, and more than a little intimidating. The group was moving peacefully, ripping browse from the bushveld scrubby trees as they went, crossing the valley bottom and climbing the slope toward us. By this time they were getting fairly close and getting a little uneasy at our presence. We soon moved away, leaving them to the dusk.Editing
Very little. Colour balancing to reduce the coolness of the shady light. Tweaks to blacks and whites. That's it. No cropping. I didn't even add any noise filtering, which I almost certainly would do now.In my camera bag
I'm very much into the micro 4/3 system. On this, my very first safari trip, I took two E-M5s into the field, one with the 75-300, the other with a 12-50 f3.5-6.3 EZ "kit" zoom. I wanted to avoid changing lenses in the field, which would risk getting dust on the sensor. Since then I have upgraded to the Olympus OM-D E-M1, 12-40mm f2.8 PRO, 40-150mm f2.8 PRO (which I would have probably used for this shot), and the simply stunning 300mm f4 PRO IS.Feedback
This was my first safari. It may turn out to be my last, but I hope to go again one day. I don't have field/bush skills. I totally relied on the guide and tracker. They were totally professional and knew exactly what they were doing. They did it two or three times a day and knew where all the animals would, probably, be. I, and my fellow safari-goers, were mere passengers. However great the guides were, they were not photographers, and didn't always get into good spots for shots, but they were more than happy to help where they could. But always respect wildlife, never expect to do whatever you like to get that shot. Often, the time is not right and it's best to keep your distance and not get in the way. And don't forget to simply watch, listen, adsorb the atmosphere and revel in the magnificence of the bush. For me it was the experience of a lifetime, or at least one of them. It would have been a shame to experience it only through a lens.
