While I love this blog, I now pretty much only write on my other two blogs: BirdingBlogs.com and 10,000 Birds - I would love to see you there!

Sunday 6 September 2009

Wildlife up close - Cape Buffalo

Hello everyone,

So one of the great things about digiscoping is that one has a huge focal length to play with, so one can really get up close and personal with some pretty impressive creatures. In my time in Southern Africa, I was able to get a whole pile of close-up macro-style images of a variety of wildlife.

What I would like to do is to create a collection of the best "Wildlife up close" images but I would like you to help me out. Each post will feature a different species of African wildlife and I would like to vote for your favorite (or against your least favorite).

The first creature is the Cape Buffalo. It might look like a cow, but this beast has a real temper and a nasty streak. There is good reason why it is one of the five most dangerous animals to hunt in Africa (hence the term "the big five")





All photos digiscoped using a Swarovski Optik STM80HD scope, new 25-50x Wide eyepiece, a Swarovski Optik UCA digiscoping adapter, and a Canon EOS 1000D.

Now what I was trying to do with each animal in the series is to somehow only photograph a very small section of the animal, but yet still capture something of the essence of the animal. All images are full sized and uncropped - if you would suggest a particular cropping then go for it!

THIS PHOTO DOES NOT COUNT FOR THE VOTE
but I thought I would include it to give you a better idea of what they look like from farther away.


Please vote for your favorite, and at the end of the series, I will randomly choose a winner from each post in the series and send them the original full-sized image they chose.

Happy voting and good luck!
Dale Forbes

14 comments:

Sebastian Molano said...

Fantastic blog with some incredible photos. Thanks for visiting my blog and comment. greetings

Gaelyn said...

Hey Dale, it does look like you were up close and personal with this Cape Bufallo. I like the first eye shot and the 4th butt shot best. Look forward to more.

Carol said...

Eye shot..though I probably wouldn't beable to tell what it was and then the shot from the rear.

www.wildlifearoundus.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Wow, found your blog today. I am planning a trip to South Africa in 2010 and have been seeking photos and inspiration for my trip. Great photos.

Lunachance

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

Hello Dale. I think you know that I have to o for the eye shot in the first picture. :) Great series.

Jochen said...

Dale, I like the eye shot but the pale straws are a bit of a distraction.
When taking your aim of capturing some of the animal's essence, I'll have to go with pic 3: the fierce horns and a determined look that makes it clear who's not to be messed with.

Anonymous said...

I would go for the red eye shot.

Dale Forbes said...

so far it looks like the red eye is winning...
the intensity of it is great, but as Jochen said, the grass may be a little off putting - I had always seen it as part of the description of the species, part of the capture (biologically if not artistically)

I think my favorite "capture the essence" pic is probably the second one - there is no doubting what it is. but yet it takes a couple of seconds to figure out what is going on.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Hi Dale! Just found your blog and I love it! Your photos of the Capr Buffalo are great! My choice of photo would be the butt shot.

Chris said...

Hi Dale.
How come did I miss this message! Very well-done. Looks like you really got a good time there. I can return you the question, do you sometime set down the camera and enjoy ;-)
Yes I do sir, and it made me miss a tremendous number of beautiful shots! My wife and daughter are even often telling me: "What you do not take a picture of that right now"... Sometime and even often, I enjoy without the camera ;-)

Becky said...

The eye shot does it for me!

Amila Salgado said...

No.1 is my pick. That plant kills that shot a bit though but then again this is no studio photography!

Unknown said...

Love the eye shot. Did you manage to take these pictures with the tripod inside your vehicle?