Getting The Fine Details in Wildlife Photography

Elephant reveals its fine details up close

There are thousands of elephant photographs out there so how do you make yours stand out from all the other wildlife photographs.

Well personally, iv found that getting to know your subject and spending alot of time with it can really open up your opportunities to capturing a very different perspective. Take this elephant for example, photographed in the Shimba Hills National Reserve, we spent about One hour watching it feeding on the grass about 100 meters away from us. As we curiously and quietly watched its every move, the elephant developed a full trust and confidence in our presence that it casually began walking right up to us. Reaching literally Five meters away from our vehicle it stopped and then peacefully kept feeding.

Listening to its trunk tear the grass from the soil, the grinding of its teeth as it chewed, the inhaling and exhaling of its breath, the silent grunting noises that it made...all these intimate sounds and fine details like the texture of its skin could be captured in the above photograph making it different and unique.

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Lions Mating Up Close In Kenya

This lion and lioness are mating really close to the road.

The Roughness Of A Lions Tongue

A lions tongue has numerous tiny spines called papillae Pet lovers with a domestic cat at home will relate to this story quite well, as they would have had their hands or fingers licked by their cat's tongue at some point or another. A lion’s tongue is no less different in design to that of a house cats, with the exception that its sheer size and heaviness would make a lions tongue as rough and harsh as sandpaper! But why is the lions tongue so rough and how is this beneficial? The reason for its roughness is that the surface of the lions tongue is covered in many tiny spines called papillae, which are further divided into 3 types namely; Filiform, Fungiform and Vallate papillae. The cats filiform papillae which is located on the tongues dorsal surface, is the main reason for the roughness, and these can also be compared to barbs since they face backwards in the direction of the throat. Having a barbed tongue is beneficial to the lion for a number of reasons. I...

The Unique Looking Guitar Fish

Guitar Fish resting on the sea bed One of the most interesting characteristics about the guitar fish is its unique body shape. It seemingly looks like a cross between a shark and a ray - with its flattened ray like head yet it has a long shark like body with dorsal fins - but this fish is actually a classification of its own and has about 50 subspecies. The guitar fish prefers to remain tranquil on the sea bed, partly covering itself with sand to camouflage itself for any unsuspecting prey such as crabs or small fish that may come past it. Reaching sizes of approximately two meters in length, they are quite docile so can easily be approached by underwater photographers.

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