PhotoShare: Noah's Giraffe

I know, I know, it's a somewhat weird and quirky title, but the rainbow should give the reason away!

I find giraffe difficult to properly compose photographically at the best of times...and know many wildlife photographers who share that sentiment. Their irregular form and contours and their size make them somewhat of an enigma and easy to do an injustice to on photos.

It's a bit easier for those frequenting the plains of the Masai Mara in Kenya or the Serengeti in Tanzania where they act as great anchors and pillars for wide shots of the landscape...but in the dense bushveld of South Africa it becomes a tad harder to do them justice.

Every now and again, though, the giraffe does all the hard work for you...like stand in the right spot. This one posed perfectly right in front of a beautiful rainbow one summer afternoon in the Sabi-Sands Game Reserve.

(Nikon D3s, Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II) f5.6  |  1/1000 SS  |  ISO-320

Chase the light!


Morkel Erasmus

PhotoShare: Dumbo's Ears

Hey folks, time for another quick PhotoShare...


We spent this particular morning in February 2010 on a game drive in the Sabi-Sands Game Reserve, and came across a small herd of African Elephant consisting of cows, calves and this young bull.


At one point he was right next to the vehicle, and something irritated him...causing him to shake is head vigorously from side to side. I loved the way this frame captured the flapping ears.


He was very close (focusing distance 3.98m) and so I used an aperture of 2.8 to ensure only the necessary detail was in focus, placing emphasis on the face and eye.

f2.8  //  1/640 SS  //  ISO-400

Hope you enjoyed this one.


Keep well


Morkel Erasmus

PhotoShare: Double Leopard on the Rocks, please

Hey folks...


I don't know about you but I've had a HECTIC week thus far. I was planning a lengthier blog post for this week but, alas, I am not going to get round to it.


Here is another quick PhotoShare to keep the blog and the images rolling. This leopard mother and daughter (named Mambirri and Mantwane) gave us an amazing few sightings during a short trip in February 2010 to the Sabi-Sands Game Reserve in South Africa. Here the cub, Mantwane, was sitting on a large riverine rock as mom Mambirri passed by. I deliberately used shallow depth-of-field (DOF) by setting the camera's aperture to f4.0 in order to get the mother pin sharp and the cub slightly out-of-focus.


Enjoy, and till next time...

f4.0  //  1/1000 SS  //  ISO-500

Morkel Erasmus