Large Elephants and the South Africa Bush

[Mike Buckley]

Madikwe Game Reserve. The first three photos were captured by my wife and post-processed by me.

Photo #1



Photo #2



Photo #3



Photo #4



Photo #5

[Suzan J]

Many complements to your wife. These are really great captures. Just how close were you to these incredible creatures?

[Mike Buckley]

I'll be sure to let my wife know, Suzan, when she sees these photos for the first time tonight on the large television.

In the second photo, we were probably about 30 meters (yards) away. She used a 300mm focal length on a camera with a 1.5 crop factor and the elephant filled the frame as shown here. In the last photo we were probably 75 to 100 meters (yards) away. All but the third photo were captured as a parade of elephants passed by us one glorious evening for about 35 minutes.

At a national park farther south, we were at a dirt parking area near a watering hole and these huge creatures were walking between the cars to get to the water hole. At one point two very large elephants began to get upset with each other. As one of them backed up to within about 5 meters of my car, seemingly unaware of it, I quickly turned on the motor and threw the car into reverse.

[Bobobird]

Wonderful images all of them. Complements to the shooter. She would make an excellent wildlife photographer.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Bobo.

I was reminding my wife just a few days ago that her photos really are an amazing success, especially when taking into account her situation. She had never used anything longer than a 105mm focal length and she was using a 70-300mm zoom for these photos that our friends loaned to her after we got to South Africa. She had also never photographed moving subjects except for the day before we left on the trip when she practiced photographing me as I walked around the backyard. Add to that that her glasses situation and poor eyes make it difficult to use the viewfinder. And these photos were taken on the first few days of our trip, when she had not yet had sufficient time to get used to anything.

[jprzybyla]

All beautiful images. Maybe just maybe you might convert to nature/wildlife photography... maybe even birds on a stick. Kudos to you wife, well done.

[Digital]

Mike, your wife did an excellent job with these photographs.



Bruce

[rawill]

For me, I have no comments, except, they fill the frame well.

However, I guess my comment is, makes me want to go there!
Up so close, getting such clear shots.

Amazing.

[Donald]

Compliments to the photographer, but also to the guy back in the digital darkroom who completed the process and made the final images. The texture on the skin of the animals has been brought up beautifully.

Compositionally, it's that third one that particularly stops me in my tracks. That's Nick Brandt-like quality photography

[John 2]

So envious of these. Great photography (I guess the processing helped a little. ). Just love the first three in particular.

[ShaneS]

These are all just fabulous Mike! Your wife has a good eye and is very talented to get theses shots with a new lens on board (high praise from a girl who just about gave up photography on the first day out with a new body - but you know that story ).

I really like the sense of movement that you captured in #4 but they are all special. I hope that these shots will be included in your souvenir book of your trip.

[Mike Buckley]

Keep those compliments coming to my wife, folks! I'll print the thread and read them to her during our dinner (paired with wine, of course!). When she returned from the trip, she assumed that hardly any of her photographs of the bush would be worth keeping because everything about shooting there was so foreign to her. She's rarely so wrong about anything but she sure was this time.

Yes, Shane, I'm sure all of these photos will make it into the thank-you book for our friends. By the way, I hope you are winning the battles if not the war with your new camera.

[Mike Buckley]

Compositionally, it's that third one that particularly stops me in my tracks. That's Nick Brandt-like quality photography

That's my wife's composition, Donald, as opposed to me altering the composition radically to achieve it. I mention this because I took photos of the same animal at the same time and didn't come close to such an effective composition.

[kaneohebud]

Mike:
Please tell your wife I said WOW! These are all great. Mount and frame the first three and display them proudly. Also, tell your wife to stop the doubting - she's got a terrific eye!

[Brownbear]

Mike, please tell your wife that her photos are exquisitely beautiful, as is your fourth photo!

[Hui Song]

Wow!

[pnodrog]

If you twisted my arm I would probably pick #4 but all are excellent.

[Plumcrak]

Outstanding images Mike! All of them!! What an incredible journey.

Cheers

[Mike Buckley]

Continued thanks to everyone!

It was really a lot of fun reading to my wife all of your comments about her photos during dinner. Soon afterward, we reviewed the photos and others on the television and I was especially glad that she was quite proud of hers.

She particularly liked one of my photos not shown in the initial post of the thread, so I agreed to add it below.


Photo #6

[FlyingSquirrel]

Nice photos and processing. It might be my imagination or the processing, but on shot 1 it looks like they are lit by flash or an artificial floodlight or something.