Luiz Paulo Grinberg  


Crossing by Luiz Paulo Grinberg

December 2024 - Crossing

About the Image(s)

"Crossing" was taken at the Masai Mara National Reserve (Kenya), at 11:11 am. The light was burst, and the day was cloudy. That was the expedition's highlight: watching the "Great Migration" of hundreds (even thousands) of wildebeests that had been traveling around Tanzania and Kenya plains in search of pastures. I wanted to convey the stressful crossing of those animals trying to get to the other side of Mara River. Even tough that was not a long distance, once in a while a puppy or even an adult succumbs in the jaws of a crocodile. I set up my camera to 1/5000 sec to guarantee the freezing of the movement and the splash of the water. My aperture was f/14 and the auto ISO gave me 11400. I was using the Nikon Z8 with a NIKKOR Z 180-600 mm at 600 mm. Turning the photo into BnW emphasized the shapes and contrast between the animals and the water.


5 comments posted




James Nelson
It must have been a thrill to witness this event. The image conveys the sense of hurried movement, particularly in the upper left portion. Near mid-day with a dark fur animal in water is a dynamic range challenge. Some of the faces are darker enough to hide most detail while some of the water spashes are lost to the bright end. The upper left looks lower in contrast compared to the right side. I edited the image to recover a little more detail in the dark areas and cropped slightly to miniize the partial animals at the edges. My edits did not change the image much.   Posted: 12/10/2024 17:03:02
Comment Image



Deborah Albert
(Groups 1 & 3)
I think better with highlights down a tad and shadows up. I like the original crop. Great position.   Posted: 12/11/2024 17:50:06



Darcy Quimby   Darcy Quimby
You usually see these images in color. It works very well in B/W. Great work.   Posted: 12/20/2024 19:43:48



Lillian Roberts   Lillian Roberts
(Groups 2 & 3)
This is a challenging image and I agree with the monochrome edit. I also agree that you have sacrificed too much of the shadows. I understand the challenge with the fast shutter speed and narrow aperture - something has to give, and in this case you went with the high ISO. IMHO that did not hurt the image, but overall it looks underexposed to me.

I wonder if you took any with a slower shutter speed?

As far as the crop, it's a hard decision to make. In general, you want to include the entire animal in front of a group but can clip those in the BG. In this situation (at least this moment) that was not possible. But I am bothered by the clipping of the two heads in the lower left. OTOH the one leaping in the upper left the most dynamic aspect of the image. So I think you make if (as I assume) the foreground is the original and not a crop.

Lillian   Posted: 12/22/2024 18:35:07



Howard Frank
Very dramatic Luiz. The choice of monochrome works well. I think if you open up the shadows that there is more detail there.   Posted: 12/23/2024 16:42:38



 

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