Tusker woes

[Saajan Jogia]

A young Elephant goes some distance from its herd in search of food. The summer of 2013 lowered water level in Kabini to an all time low, making it difficult for tuskers to remain healthy.

ISO 200
Shutter speed: 1/125 sec
Aperture: f/5.6
E.v: 0
Focal length: 250mm

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Is this image a crop? Was the original image underexposed? The head portion is in the shadow. So unless you increase the exposure during shooting, the shadow portion will have less details. And in this case since the head is in the shadow, it is impacting the quality of the image.

The right ear ie. the one on the left side of the image also blocks the sunlight. So it would have been great if you would have clicked when the ear is slightly folded allowing more light to fall on the head.

One can also move the vehicle to another pose to create a different mood. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Saajan Jogia]

The image is a 50% crop and it wasn't underexposed. I waited for a chance when it's face could be lit but it kept moving behind the trees.
The driver had parked the vehicle in such a photo-locked spot that I had to do with this. And seriously, there was no way we could switch the engine on of that worn out diesel 4x4 amongst all those tuskers hardly a few metres away, so thought it would be wise to get whatever we could in that position.

We actually wanted to reverse on the same road to get better shots of a well-lit, big male tusker a distance away, but I guess this concludes that along with luck and skill, you also have to depend on the driver's presence of mind :(
I feel the dark front describes the grey period through which the elephant was going through. Also on the same day, we encountered a body of a tusker that had got stuck at a water hole( no info on how it got stuck) and was too weak to relieve itself.

Thanks for the detailed input. :)

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

The composition with the trunk being used to detach and conveying grass or twig to the mouth and the raised forefoot looks good.Thanks for sharing. SaktiWild

[Bhargava Srivari]

You chose an image with a good pose; the raised front foot and the trunk curled into its mouth add to the image. I feel you could have easily used ISO 400 for a higher shutter speed because in its present state the iamge doe not look particularly sharp. Also, what was the body and lens you used?

P.S: After an utterly dry spell of Summer, rains have lashed the area and there is now enough water and food available, so it is definitely some sort of a respite for the animals.