B&W Elephant

[botspur]

I think that this old bull Elephant makes a powerful subject, we were at Savuti in Botswana driving down a bush track when walking on the road towards us was this Elephant. I couldn’t get off the road due to thick sand so we sat and waited to see what would happen. He eventually veered of the road right in front of us and as he walked past the driver’s side I took this picture.
In B&W I’ve played a bit and come up with two different images, I can’t decide which one has the best features, in #1 the elephant tends to take centre stage but in #2 is the sky too powerful or does it complement?
C&C most welcome.

[revi]

I prefer the first image by far (with perhaps a little darkening of the sky). As you implied, in #2 the impact of the elephant is less. Also, I find the grass and bushes in #2 way too light (giving an IR impression almost), and you lost part of the beautiful texture on the elephant (mostly head and left ear).

Very nice capture in any case, congratulations
(and: not too many nail traces on the camera I hope? must be a bit anxiety-inducing having that fellow coming towards you)

Remco

[Donald]

Clive - I agree with Remco. In the second one I feel the animal is starting to get lost in the background.

Yet again, another fantastic capture. Oh, how I wish I could spend time in your place.

[Maritimer1]

The first one is wonderful. The elephant looms majestic. The sky is striking in the second, but there is too much shadow in the elephant. Did you crop your shot? Just asking as I would leave a bit more room at the bottom, if possible, for its trunk. That's just a picky detail, though, as the execution is superb.

[botspur]

Hi Remco, many thanks for the input and comments and I tend to agree about the grass and bushess. I'm just glad that the lens/camera has VR.

Hi Donald, many thanks for the comments and the more I look the second one is losing focus on the elephant. If you're ever in our neck of the woods make contact.

Hi Myra, many thanks for the C&C most valuable to me to know how others view my work. The image has not been cropped just straightened the horizon a wee bit and I couldn't zoom out anymore than I was.