Portrait of a young lion

I dug into my archives for this one - something basic, a simple portrait, enhanced by rim-light from the sun behind the subject.

I spent time with a local lion pride in the Savute region of the Chobe National Park back in 2011 on a commissioned visit to the lodges of Orient Express in Botswana. The pride had been resting in the shade all day, but at the end of the day, as is their nature, they started waking up for the night's activity. This youngster was intrigued by a herd of elephants who'd arrived discreetly behind us and were drinking from a standing pool of water.

Shooting portraits with rim-light from a back-lit source (the sun in this case) is quite challenging, if you are not aiming for a silhouette. You want just the right amount of detail and the rim-lighting to not be too brightly blown out. I would encourage you to practice this technique with your specific camera and lens combination as often as you can, so that you know you can nail the exposure in the field when it matters.

Techs:
Canon 7D
Canon 300mm f2.8 L IS USM
f4.0  |  1/1000 SS  |  ISO-800

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Morkel Erasmus

Featured on the BBC Wildlife Magazine webpage

A little while ago I was fortunate to have a selection of my African Elephant photos featured in an online gallery on the BBC Wildlife Magazine website (Discover Wildlife). Being featured on the website of such a prominent environmental publication is a big honour for me indeed.

You can view the gallery HERE (and also browse some of the other amazing galleries to be seen in that section of the website, by legendary photographers like Steve Winter, David Lloyd en Hannes Lochner).

Have a great weekend, friends!

Morkel Erasmus

Published in the Daily Mail Online (UK)

I was pleased yesterday to see a story being run in the Daily Mail Online (UK Newspaper) about a morning I spent (along with Marlon du Toit of course) photographing the iconic elephants of Mana Pools.

I was particularly pleased that they included a bit about the current threat of mining exploration to the area, even if it's just a mention of it. I specifically requested this be included because I would hate for these images to get exposure just for my own personal gain - this area is so special to me I want to be able to use my images to raise awareness of its fragility and the threats it faces.

You can read the article and view the accompanying images

HERE

To learn more about the issues concerning Mana Pools, a UNESCO World Heritage site, link up with the Save Mana Pools Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/SaveMana).

Thanks for reading this blog!! I appreciate every view, click and comment.

Cheers!

Morkel Erasmus

National Geographic Photo of the Day

Hi folks - a quick one!

Heck, this one happened a while ago on the NatGeo site, but I recently discovered a link to their unofficial Tumblr blog which features this image of mine - so I thought it would only be apt to link to it from my blog as well...

http://nationalgeographicmagazine.tumblr.com/post/17393112203 

Cheers for now!!

Morkel Erasmus

Some exposure in the UK newspapers!

Good news everybody! The online editions of the popular UK newspapers the Daily Mail and the Telegraph picked up a series of photos of mine to publish this week. The photos cover unusual behaviour by an African Tree Squirrel.


Check out these links:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366128/Squirrel-carries-baby-nest-coiled-tiny-ball.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/8380640/Pictures-of-the-day-14-March-2011.html

I am stoked about this exposure, and hope this is the start of more similar opportunities.

Kind regards

Morkel Erasmus