To watch the mothers and children initially playing in the mud was so much fun. Then the old bull emerged from the bush, where he was hidden from our view feeding. With a flick of his trunk and a subtle move of his body the entire herd stopped playing, as if chided by him, and then proceeded to regroup and leave the water sports in the dam to go dry off. It was inspiring to witness the interaction and intelligence of these massive creatures, and yet not a sound was made by any one of them. Read on to see an edited image and decide what impact that has overall.
Buffel’s-Baai (Buffalo-Bay), Goukamma Nature Reserve, Western Cape, South Africa
Pushed the limits on the HDR (ToneMap?) here as an experiment. (It is not my favourite processing style but simply an exercise for me.) The Haloing (created during Post Processing) is more evident on the Medium-High quality (Flickr) JPG than on the full size original (PC). I will have to work on that to reduce or remove the effect when posting to web.
Shot with my Nikon D80 (CCD) which is far richer than the later D90/D300 supposedly more advanced (CMOS) sensors! with my new Tokina AT-X 124 AF PRO DX 12-24mm f/4. and NO filter…
This is the original (2006?) Tokina 12-24mm, with glass made by Hoya (the filter people).
The newer PRO DX II version apparently has less flare and ghosting due to some improved coatings, but I don’t think my PRO DX is as bad as it’s made out to be in some reviews, judging by the above and other results I shot this week.
I took more care with the above processing and whilst perhaps not as impactful as the first, it certainly is more realistic and believable.
I noticed this image appear in the mirror driving home yesterday and conjured up this concept of a road trip with no-one else in sight. Stopped the car in the rain, grabbed the D90 and bolted across the road to get a few shots. I waited until only one car was visible coming over the rise to get that feeling of independence and freedom that the open road is renowned for.
Unaltered photo, no Photo Shop post processing except USM (UnSharpMask)
Photo 101: As a photographer you should ALWAYS look behind you, especially when shooting.
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