It was mating season for the Galápagos giant tortoises when we were there in November. The males had come down from high in the hills and were gathering at lower elevations in the fields of Santa Cruz Island. I found these four resting and cooling off in a small pond in the heat of mid day.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 32mm) ISO 400, f/7.1 at 1/800th, 1/3200th, 1/1600th, 1/400th and 1/200th of a second (HDR)
7 Comments
amazing creatures!
Great composition! I’m curious why you went for the HDR. Why did you go the HDR route? BTW, I wouldn’t have guessed it was an HDR picture until I read the details on the image.
Thanks Kirk. Ordinarily I wouldn’t go HDR with wildlife subjects but the sky was a bit brighter than the foreground and I was trying to bring out some of those moody clouds — and, of course, the subjects were stationary so it was possible. I usually use a graduated neutral density filter for wildlife situations like this but mine was broken in a few pieces when I pulled it out of my bag. I didn’t have my tripod with me either so I did this handheld — which usually doesn’t work out so well but I was able to brace my elbows on the ground. As for it not looking much like an HDR photo, I do that deliberately — make an HDR, then un-HDR it by adding contrast back in, taking saturation back out, etc. That being said, there was enough range in the scene to begin with that I probably could have achieved the same result with one raw file pulling out the shadows and highlights.
Thanks for providing the thought process on the image – that totally makes sense now. Great job improvising in the field!
I just discovered your blog from the Photocrati site and am very impressed with your images. Thanks for sharing your images with everyone to enjoy. They are truly inspirational!
Really love this photo, you’ve perfectly caught the weather of the day. Makes such a great impact on the overall image.
They are amazing and this photo is unbelievable, makes me feel like I’m right there.
I love this photo!