Splish-Splash
Thailand 2007 Near Chiang Mai
I was floating downstream on a raft. The baby elephant was enjoying the water, scrubbing himself against the fallen log. The river was wide and we were in the center. I had a fast lens but the maximum zoom was 105mm. I wished I had a longer zoom. How many times have I wished that? Or the reverse, wished for a wider angle. How many shots have I missed because there wasn’t time to change lenses? Lots.
I remember seeing a man carrying two cameras and a shoulder bag full of lenses. He put a lens on the camera that he held to his eye, but his other camera body had no cap or lens. He’d shoot, remove the lens and leave the camera open to any dirt or dust. His bag was a jumble of uncapped lenses and cameras. I guess he got every shot. He was quick, I give him that. I have never seen anyone else work that way. We can’t possibly do that with digital. Think how filthy the sensor would be.
I cropped this shot to a ‘panorama’ look. There was too much space that didn’t tell us anything and we always want to see a baby elephant up close, don’t we? The shot was in color but the sepia tone not only emphasizes delicate areas of contrast, it turns the elephant and tree trunk into an abstract element. I toned the tree trunk darker and brightened the shadows of the elephants face to emphasize his eyes.
Think about making a color photo a black/white photo if you don’t like the colors: too harsh or just colors that don’t make you happy. If you want a smoother shading of contrasts, use a sepia tone or other tone color. The sky’s the limit.