Elephants at mid-day

[botspur]

First post and hope this works.
Picture 1.
We had just watched a small breeding herd of elephant’s cross the road in front of our car when in an attempt to catch up with the herd this mother and two young walked very quickly from the thick bush. Like a naughty child the smaller elephant was frustratingly either in front of or behind the mother and was really not helping my composition; the captured position lasted for the briefest of moments. It was mid-day light (11:21hrs) with a bit of cloud cover. Taken at the Chobe River Front during the rainy season - Chobe National Park, Northern Botswana.




Picture 2.
It was mid-afternoon (13:48) in the dry season and this lone bull elephant was quietly feeding amongst the Mopane trees. We were parked backed by a large bush to break up the outline of the vehicle near a small waterhole that was between the elephant and ourselves. We waited and hoped that he would soon visit the waterhole for a drink. Eventually he broke cover and walked straight towards us very relaxed; his head was nodding, huge ears flapped and trunk swished with each stride. I only snapped this one picture as I had it composed whilst waiting an hour for him to move, all he had to do was take the well trodden game path towards the water which he obligingly did. When he got to the water we spent a further half hour with him while he had a long drink and a very noisy/messy mud bath, before he moved away. Taken in the Savute area of the Chobe National Park, Northern Botswana.



Camera point and shoot Sony DSC-H1 (jpeg) set to Auto (Default [1]ISO64, 1/640sec, F4.0, [2] ISO64, 1/400sec, F4.0,); PP - crop, WB a bit of HSL.
Please C&C welcome.

[waha]

When it comes to shooting elephants--which I have never done because they are so hard to find hereabouts--I reckon that the length of the photographer's life is directly proportional to the length of his lens.
Great shots, Clive! Take care. We want to keep you around.

waha

[Donald]

Clive - Wonderful stuff. What subject material. Your patience paid off.

Have you looked at Nick Brandt's stuff. Jaw-dropping photography.

ps - You'll see that I've put your images into your post. They now sit under the text referring to them and I think are better viewed at the larger size.

[botspur]

Hi Wayne,
Many thanks for the comment. I must admit sometimes it does get a bit hairy.

Clive

[botspur]

Hi Donald,
Many thanks, patience does pay off and I'm blessed with plenty of it. I will look at Nick Brandt's images when I get the chance - thanks for that.

How did you do that with the images I was scratching my head this morning trying to figure it out.

Clive

[Donald]

How did you do that with the images I was scratching my head this morning trying to figure it out.

The best thing to do in relation to learning how to post images, is read through this thread. If that still leaves you scratching your head, just call out.

[Dave Humphries]

Two excellent images Clive, well done,

[JPS]

Clive,
cracking pictures, well done.

[botspur]

Dave and John,
Many thanks for the comments.