Nice photo Mark. The sharpness of the hippo and the dof are good. I like the light on the subject also.
Hi Mark,
I was getting kinda worried when I read "click for full size"!
Great Photo Mark. How did you get that close? When in Kenya last year we were kept far away from the hippos because they were dangerous. From your exif data, it seems like you were 20 meters away and using a 400mm lens?
We snuck up on them up wind, kept our heads low, made sure our bearers were showing us dutiful respect (calling us Bwana at regular intervals) and ........ er it was actually at Auckland Zoo . There are three kinds of people in the world - clever people, stupid people and people who try and sneak up on hippos! I am originally from Africa where hippos are responsible for more people deaths than any other larger predator. Being herbivores, they wander far and wide at night in search of grazing and they are fiercely territorial. National Geo had some amazing underwater photos of hippos.
In a zoo or not, that's a superb image. Got it all, exposure, focus, DoF - right on the nail. A cracker, as we say hereabouts.
Great picture. I love the texture of the skin.
I would like to see you put her on a leash and go for a walk around the neighborhood! Picking up after her would be difficult to because of that thing they do when "eliminating".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20a8Y51U5Es