Babbling Brooks

[Bibhav Behera]

Shot in Similipal. Since most of the animals in Similipal have turned nocturnal (perhaps due to extensive poaching), there wasn't much use I could make of the 300 f/4 so spent time shooting some landscapes and long exposures. Why there was even a peafowl which kept calling through the night

Canon 1000D, 18-55 (Simplex tripod)
SS 1/3 sec
f/22
ISO 100

Comments and critiques welcome.

[Mrudul Godbole]

It is sad to hear that there are no sightings in day time, just shows how much we have affected the behaviour of wild animals .

The smooth flow looks nice. You can crop a bit from the top, as the dark portion on the top doesn't add much to the image. At what focal length was this taken? I would have liked a bit wider composition with some more space on the left. Thanks for sharing.

[Bibhav Behera]

I was contemplating cropping that out but though that I should let it be as I felt that the log on the top was interesting. This was taken at 21mm.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Depth of field is important in a landscape image. Often, we use a high depth of field by using a narrow aperture (in this case f22 was used). The question is depth of field to portray what?

The most important thing in a landscape image to be successful is the patterns and textures. I am assuming that light and sharpness are a must. So, in this case, the spherical rock near the bottom edge acts like nice, but doesn't seem to be a part of the story. The flow of water creates a small pattern and this is partly blocked by the spherical rock at the bottom edge. Beyond that on the other side, there are few rocks lying without creating any pattern or lending any harmony to the image. And further up, there is a log lying like a crocodile. Everything is in focus. Unfortunately, it acts like an orchestra without harmony.

For that you need to isolate the best part of the story. In this case, the flow of the stream. And it would have been good if you could have composed with some objects acting like a leading line leading our eyes into the frame and to the flow.

Thanks for sharing. Keep on experimenting.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Bibhav Behera]

Thanks for the elaborate critique, Sabyasachi. Appreciate it.

[Nikhilesh Mahakur]

I like the image and sabyasachi's feedback.

[Lakshminarayanan Nataraja]

Bibhav,

It is unfortunate that there were no sightings during the day..

Did you manage to see the signs atleast ?

[Bibhav Behera]

We did see signs during the day but it wasn't very encouraging.

Usually in this time of the year, Elephants move to eat mangoes in the jungles. We found huge no. of mango trees with loads of ripe mangoes dropped on the ground untouched and not even an old dung remnant was near any of the trees we saw (a lot of them). That was disturbing coupled with the recent news of over 12 elephants poached in Similipal. There is going to be an enquiry soon on this.

I believe that the gap between the maoist attacks there and to date was grossly taken advantage of by the poachers. There is a local tradition called 'Akhanda Shikaar' which happens sometime in May during which local tribal go hunting. It was earlier in check but since the attacks, forest officials had been scared to enter the sanctuary. This probably took its toll on the wildlife. There are a few forest staff inside now but they have been asked to surrender their weapons in case of another attack.

There is also a speculation that the so called Maoist attack was indeed an attack by the local poachers as the weapons they used were country made guns, clubs and bows and arrows as compared to the sophisticated weapons used by maoists elsewhere.

That of course is debatable. However the impact it has had on the Sanctuary is there to see (or rather should I put it 'not to see')

Regards