YOUNG ELEPHANT BOTTLE FEEDING ITSELF
The photo was taken at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant Orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. The orphanage is dedicated to raising elephants that have been ...
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The photo was taken at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant Orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. The orphanage is dedicated to raising elephants that have been rescued as babies often after poachers have killed their mothers for the tusks. After a dozen years or so they are integrated into herds in Tsavo National Park. This photo demonstrates a remarkable trait about elephants. Unlike human babies and other primates that come prewired to grasp, baby elephants have to learn to use their facial appendage. It takes them about six months to a year to do so. They have a brain which is about three times larger than our own.
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Jun, 2019Views
475
Likes
Awards
Winner in Rescued Photo Challenge
Winner in drinking Photo Challenge
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Magnificent Capture
Top Choice
Superb Composition
All Star
Outstanding Creativity
Virtuoso
Genius
Superior Skill
Emotions
Impressed
Happy
Top Ranks
Top 30 rank
Top 20 rankTop 30 rank week 5Top 30 rank month 1Top 30 rank week 3
Categories
PRO
Platinum
ManeFrame
June 27, 2021
Thank you for entering this in my "Rescued" challenge, Paul. This speaks so many volumes! Congratulations on winning the challenge!
Platinum
Paul_Joslin
June 29, 2021
My pleasure. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust does a wonderful job of rescuing orphaned elephants, raising them and reintroducing them back into the wild
Ultimate
Platinum
Platinum
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken at the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. It has a long history of raising orphaned elephants until they are od enough to be released into a herd structure in the wild, a task that can take a dozen years or more.Time
It was about late morning on a sunny day. While not the most ideal it was not a significant issue. I generally prefer cloudy situations to reduce strong light-dark contrast and to improve color saturation. I also like early morning or evening situations when most wildlife are most active and the sun is low creating great side-lighting or backlighting situations.Lighting
There was nothing special about the lighting other than what I have already mentioned.Equipment
My standard photo equipment in the field consists of one camera and one lens, namely a Nikon D500 and a Nikkor 18 to 300 mm lens. Ultra zoom lenses are sharp enough, camera tracking abilities good enough and the quality of vibration reduction systems sufficient to meet most of my needs. Almost all of my ViewBug challenge wins and contest successes have been achieved with this equipment.Inspiration
The subject matter was priceless. I had never before seen elephants bottle feeding themselves.Editing
Every photo I take that I have selected for appearing in ViewBug or elsewhere gets some amount of post processing. At the minimum it gets cropped, lens type adjusted for and lighting cum color balance corrected. In this specific case I used photoshop to darken completely all of the distracting background that competed with the subject.In my camera bag
In addition to the Nikon camera and Nikkor lens my camera bag includes spare SD cards, camera batteries and camera lens cleaner. My camera bag is of the sling type which enables me to reach the camera in a moments notice without having to remove the bag. I have removed the bulk of the camera padding and replaced it with a gardener's knee pad. While serving as camera padding during travel, when I am onsite shooting the pad sometimes serves as something to sit, kneel or lie on.Feedback
Take lots of photos. You never know especially when dealing with animal subjects which pic is going to turn out to be the best.
