Elephant
Feb, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This is the beautiful Tibovuti, a female elephant at the Bushbabies Monkey and Elephant sanctuary in South Africa.Time
I was a volunteer tour guide at the sanctuary and so saw Tibo each and every day for over a month. On this particular day around midday the sun was slightly covered by clouds. The elephants had been playing and so had kicked up a lot of dust. The softened sunlight shining through the dust gave an almost natural sepia tone to the scene, and so I quickly got out my camera and snapped this shot of this majestic girl.Lighting
The African sun is notoriously harsh and sharp, especially at midday. This makes it unwise to shoot at this time as it gives a washed out, pale complexion to almost all subjects. The clouds softened the light a bit and the dust made it less white and gave it an almost hazy texture which worked well for this particular subject and shot.Equipment
I used my Canon PowerShot S200 point-and-shoot camera.Inspiration
I've always admired elephants for their strength and intelligence, hence why I was volunteering at the sanctuary. I'd taken many other photos of Tibo and the other elephants, but they were all sadly taken in lighting that was too harsh. When I approached the camp to watch the elephants play during one of y breaks, I noticed the strange way that the dust was catching and casting the light. I waited for a cloud to pass over and slightly cover the sun to get a softer lighting, then called for Tibo. She knew my voice and so turned towards me, giving the absolute perfectly direct profile of her. I snapped this and a few other shots before the dust settled. Looking back at the photo, I marvel at how I managed to capture her grace and power.Editing
The photo was originally of her entire body. I cropped it to half of her body as she had a healing wound on the other side of her face where she'd been injured by poachers. The bandages didn't fit the whole feel of the photo. I also increased the contrast of the image to better display her one remaining tusk and define her wrinkles more. This gave her an aged yet majestic look.In my camera bag
As a part-time photographer, I always carry my little point-and-shoot Canon camera with me where-ever I go. You never know when the perfect moment could arise so it's always best to be prepared to capture it.Feedback
Elephants are notoriously difficult to photograph as most are either scared or aggressive towards humans. I was lucky in the fact that I had the chance to get to know Tibo before capturing this shot. Wildlife photography is all about patience and making the most of rare opportunities.
