Winner: Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Ever since he first picked up a camera, Greg has photographed African elephants. For many years, he says, I've wanted to create an image that captures their special energy and the state of consciousness that I sense when I'm with them. This image comes closest to doing that. The shot was taken at a waterhole in Botswanas Northern Tuli Game Reserve, from a hide (a sunken freight container) that provided a ground-level view. Greg chose to use a slow shutter speed to create the atmosphere he was after and try to depict these gentle giants in an almost ghostly way. He used a wide-angle lens tilted up to emphasize the size of whatever elephant entered the foreground, and chose a narrow aperture to create a large depth of field so that any elephants in the background would also be in focus. Greg had hoped the elephants would turn up before dawn, but they arrived after the sun was up. To emphasize the mysterious nature of these enigmatic subjects, he attached a polarizing filter and set his white balance to a cool temperature. The element of luck that added the final touch to his preparation was the baby elephant, which raced past the hide, so close that Greg could have touched her. The slow shutter speed conveyed the motion, and a short burst of flash at the end of the exposure froze a fleeting bit of detail.
Source: Greg du Toit/ Wildlife Photographer of the Year
No comments:
Post a Comment
Just click on the comment button for each post that you are interested in. If you are not a blogger you may comment without a password by choosing the Name/URL button and putting in e.g. your name and then entering your comment in the large text box and then click on the publish comment button down below! :)