Yawn

“Nature teaches beasts to know their friends” – William Shakespeare

After a long hot day, one of the best places to end it is at a waterhole with hippos inside. These incredible animals just have a way of making you smile and they really have a way of adding a special feeling to the African Bush when they start calling.

It was not long after we stopped at this dam and the sun was setting behind us, when this hippo bull decided to break the surface of the water with a beautiful show of dominance. I got my camera out hoping that he would yawn again as there was another male on the other side of the water.

The light wasn’t great but still good enough to try and get a good photo. My settings were all ready and we sat patiently waiting for about 15 minutes and there it was, the big bull started going under water slowly and rolled around once. The next thing we saw were massive teeth out of the water and he did a full yawn! As he started closing his mouth he went back down into the water sideways and that was the moment I took my photo.

Equipment used

• Camera – Canon 7D Mkii
• Lens and Focal length – Sigma 150-600mm F5 – 6.3 DG @238mm

Settings used to capture this image

• ISO – 800
• Aperture – F 5.6
• Shutter – 1/800

In Lightroom I didn’t do much, I just pushed up the whites to +20 and the blacks to -10. Using whites and blacks for me is better than using the contrast option.