Curious Giraffe

This super relaxed male Giraffe who was stood at first 20 feet away from our vehicle on the opposite side of a watering hole. His curious nature kept him very interested in us and kept making his way closer and closer to our vehicle until he was just a mere 4 feet away. He then began feeding on a nearby tree and would turn to face directly straight towards us in the vehicle as he would munch away at his mouth full of leaves.

With an animal up so close and personal, it’s very difficult to get the whole animal into the frame. So, change it up, go in for the finer and smaller details on the animal for example the texture and patterns of the skin, the mane of the neck or, if possible, the full-face portrait which is what I managed to get in this picture.

Equipment Used

Camera - Canon 7D MKii

Lens and Focal length - Canon-EF100-400mm f-4.5-5.6 L ISII USM at 286mm

Settings used to capture this image

ISO 2500 – A higher than usual ISO for a daytime shot as his face was in the shadow facing us and in order to obtain the detail and light necessary, I had to raise this slightly.

Aperture f/5.6 – At this f stop there is more than enough light to render all the detail clear as well as create a lovely smooth bokeh in the background which creates the dappled light effect behind him.

Shutter 1/1600 – This male, being so tall and as far away, would tend to be quite mobile so I used a relatively high shutter so as to maintain the detail in his face.

Editing used on this image

I converted this into a monochrome black and white image, although having beautiful lighting, but with the leaves being black and white making the giraffe stand out with the Background Blur (bokeh) pushing him to the fore front. By increasing clarity slightly, it separates the detail a little better.