Please share your immediate response to the image before reading the photographer’s intent (obscured text below) or other comments. The photographer seeks a genuinely unbiased first impression.
Questions to guide your feedback
Liwonde National Park. Despite the proximity of the river, this waterhole is quite popular.
This Elephant is having a wonderful mud bath, despite the Warthog sharing his pool.
Other Information
Please leave your feedback before viewing the blurred information below, once you have replied, click to reveal the text and see if your assessment aligns with the photographer. Remember, this if for their benefit to learn what your unbiased reaction is.
Technical Details
Leica Monochrom 1, Telyt-V 200 iii, ca 1965, on Visoflex 3.
What a wonderful moment to capture, Jaapv! I like your decision to use sepia – it gives the image a classic sort of reportage feel to it (something I do a lot, too). Here’s my initial reaction: I really had to struggle to figure out what the little warthog was down in front. At first I thought it was just a log or rock, and I wondered if it wasn’t too distracting. My other initial thought was that the ellies in the BG were cropped very close to the edge, and I wondered whether you might be able to pull back from them a bit. Then I realized that my eye seemed to go straight to them, overlooking the bathing ellie. So, if this was my photo I might try making local adjustments (eg, contrast, shadows, highlights, maybe a touch of dehaze?) – all in order to bring the bathing ellie to its rightful center of my attention and to make the little warthog more immediately identifiable. Personally I’d keep the little guy in the photo, because of the wonderful contrast in size between all the bathers. For me, this is what makes the photo so unusual and great. (By the way, other members of NPN are likely to have better advice then me.) Thanks for sharing this – I love warthogs, and have yet to capture one that I’m very satisfied with. I really wish I’d seen this with you!
I must admit that this image happened to confuse me, just wondering, what’s the main subject here?? Waterhog or the bathing elephant? Because focus appears to be on the waterhog!
If my main subject is Waterhog, then I would crop out the standing elephants and if it was bathing elephant then I would crop out the waterhog. Just hope it makes some sense?
