It seems like it has been a while since I have played around with tinted monochrome images. This elephants looked good in black and white, but felt better with the warmer, coffee tones you see below. These were taken on different days, but all fairly late in the morning, when the sun was casting harsh shadows. Conventional wisdom says that’s the time to put away the camera, but I’ll keep shooting as long as there is something interesting to look at. The bulk of an elephant and the highly textured skin seem to be able to handle harsh light quite well.
It’s no secret that I love elephants, and that I love editing elephant images in black and white. Here are a few from my most recent travels. I hope they brighten up your Monday 🙂
This little elephant was precocious and kept all of us laughing and smiling as he played with sticks and branches, tossing them over his head.A mama guiding her young calf across the road to join the rest of the herd.Another adorable youngster; this one was very inquisitive and spent lots of time near the vehicle, seeing what we were all about.A large bull elephant in musth. Our guide was very cautious as this guy approached us on the road, but the elephant turned off into the bushes, after giving his head a dramatic shake at us.Drinks stop while Mom graves.
Instead of my weekly monochrome Monday post, I decided to share some of my favourite elephant images, in honour of World Elephant Day.
May these beautiful animals roam in peace 🙂
An adorable baby elephant trying to make itself look big and threatening.
A herd of elephants in Amboseli.
Elephants galore in this multiple exposure image.
A pair of elephants moving down a road.
My favourite baby elephant, testing to see if sand is good eating. 1/640sec, f9.0, ISO 2000
Elephants marching one by one.
Elephants are my favourite animal to spend time with on safari, so feel free to search my site for elephants to find other posts about these majestic giants, or take a look at the gallery.
I saved my favourite for last for my final instalment of July’s topic – Babies in the bush. I was actually so spoiled for choice with images of baby elephants that it was difficult to select which images to share. I’m not complaining, it is definitely a good problem to have!
On all of the properties we visited, the elephant sightings were prolific; so much so that a couple of our guides even commented about the volume of elephants sightings that we were having, and how lucky we were. There were moments that no matter which direction you looked, you were surrounded by elephants. And when we carried on down a road to see what else we could see, around every bend in the road, there were more. Being in the presence of these magnificent animals brings me such a feeling of peace and joy, so you’ll never hear me complain about seeing too many elephants while out on safari.
You can’t help but smile while watching baby elephants. They have so much personality, and are often very precocious and curious. You’ll often see them mock charging vehicles trying to be big and tough, playing with sticks and branches in the bush, tussling with their little friends, having a temper tantrum when something isn’t going their way, or playing shy, hiding between Mom and other larger, more confident elephants.
I hope you enjoy my selections for the week 🙂
A bit of follow the leader down on of the roads through the bush.If this little face doesn’t make you smile, I don’t think we could be friends 🙂Pausing for a quick drink of milk in the middle of the road.Some images just beg to be edited in a different way. For this one, instead of trying to enhance the sharpness, I went the other direction, and worked to highlight the dust, haze and softness of the image. This is one of my favourite images that I have worked on in the last couple of weeks, and I think I’m going to have to find some wall space and have this one printed. You can find this image on my gallery page.A herd of elephants digging in the dry riverbed for the water hidden underground. Look at the tiny baby tucked up against its Mom; still small enough to clear under her belly.There were several occasions on this trip where I ended up in the midst of enormous elephants herds; it didn’t matter which direction you looked, there would be many elephants to watch and take pictures of. Here is one of those moments with elephants as far as the eye could see, with lots of youngsters in the mix.A pair of youngsters playing while the rest of the herd grazed all around them.It’s a special treat to see elephants that are tiny enough to still be taking cover under their Mom’s tummy.
Happy Canada day to my friends and family. I know I should have been out capturing the beauty of my own country, but the day has been pretty rainy and miserable, so instead, I offer you today a trio of baby elephants.
Wishing everyone a fantastic week ahead!
Wait for me!!!The tenderness shown towards the baby elephants is heartwarming, every time I experience it.If this happy baby doesn’t make you smile, you are definitely visiting the wrong blog! The joy that this little one shared with us, and the excitement about the stick, was contagious. Everyone on our vehicle was grinning ear to ear.
Just a quick post today as I am running a little short on time at the moment!
I loved watching these elephants greet each other as they all congregated around a dam. Different family groups joined up, took their time with greetings, getting refreshing drinks, and eventually, heading off in their separate ways.
It’s always a joy for me to spend time amongst elephants.
Here we are at Monday again. I felt like editing some elephant images recently, so that is what I have decided to share today. Elephants, with their amazingly textured skin, look fantastic in monochrome images (at least I think so!)
I hope you enjoy my selections. Have a great week!
A lone bull elephant crossing the Boteti River in Botswana.An elephant enjoying some tasty greens.Giving the grasses a good shake, to remove excess dirt, before eating.An elephant enjoying a drink at one of the dams on Phinda Game Reserve.There is actually a pair of elephants here, climbing out of the dry riverbed in front of Ngala Tented Camp, but one is mostly obscured by the bushes. This image looked pretty flat and lifeless from the harsh midday sun, until I did the black and white conversion. I couldn’t quite go ask them to repeat the trek at a later time when the lighting was more favourable!
