Weekly High Five #18

Things are finally back to normal. After missing two weeks the Weekly High Five is back every Friday!

This weeks High Five features a very diverse range of images. If you have been following the Blog over the last few weeks you will know that there have been a LOT of new images added to the Photo-Africa Stock Library. I uploaded a lot of these from Johannesburg when I was there on leave but the guys have been at it during the last week and the images just keep on rolling in.

I started doing game drives again yesterday and already have a large number of images to work through. I will be getting these up onto the Stock Site during the weekend and will hopefully also post some images and stories on the Blog.

For now here goes with this week's edition of the Weekly High Five.

Image 1 - Lion Face by Grant Marcus

I love the close crop in this image. The ears have been cut off on both sides which does not 'disrupt' the image as much as if just one was missing. The focal areas of the image, eyes and mouth, forms that invisible triangle with the nose in the middle. Powerful use of shapes. The flies on the nose area combined with the open mouth and little bit of grass at the bottom of the frame gives the image quite a rough look. If anything there could have been a little more light on the eyes but then again this would have drawn your attention to much to the top of the frame. Nice images that captures the lion's wild side.

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Image 2 - Mongoose Fight by Gerry van der Walt

This is a much older image but was only added to the Stock Library recently. These Banded Mongoose are shown having a bit of a tussle about food. In an action image such as this it can be quite useful to have a combination of blurred motion and one or two crisp / sharp areas in the image. The closest mongoose who is trying to get away from the aggressor is blurred which makes you 'see' how he is trying to get away. The visibly upset mongoose in the back has a combination of movement (in the paw) and the face which is a little more in focus. The teeth and eye shows you his intentions. I might have liked to have the face a little more sharp but in this kind of images the slight blur works quite well.

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Image 3 - St Josep Lily by Adriani Jones

Stunning close up. The center of the flower is in focus and then the combination of color and DOF makes it fade perfectly to the side of the frame. The slight bit of light in the top right aids in leading your eye along the green line towards the focal point of the image. This is what macro photography is all about. Absolutely stunning.

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Image 4 - African Sunset by Matt Jones

This image is all about composition. The African sky offers you so many breath-taking moments that if you take a few seconds to look around at what aspects of the environment you should include in your image you can end up with something like this. The two hills form a perfect base for the tree to 'sit' in. The tree is placed on one of the power points (Rule of Thirds) and the way the branches are arranged highlights the orange sky by almost pointing your view in that direction. I still pity the brochure photographer I met in the Seychelles who said that sunsets are over-rated. Stunning capture!

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Image 5 - African Wild Cat by Matt Jones

This is the first image of an African Wild Cat that has been uploaded to the Stock Library. These little nocturnal cats are very difficult to photograph but this image works very well. The animal has been placed to the right of the frame and the direction the spotlight is coming from, the direction the cat is looking towards and the direction of the grass in the background all lads your view to the left of the frame. To photograph an animal like this in the evening take some doing and to get it nice and sharp with natural colors is quite special. A special image and my choice of the week.

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A great mix of images. You can view these and other new African Wildlife images on the Photo-Africa Stock Library. By clicking on any of the images on the Stock Site you are helping us to rank the images. When you click on Most Popular Images you can view the images that have been receiving the most hits. Click on your favorites to help them 'climb the ranks'!

I will be back towards the end of the weekend with many more unique African Wildlife Images. The game viewing is good and the photography is fantastic!

As always I look forward to hearing from you.

Until next time.

Gerry