Little Baby Giraffe

I captured this photograph of a little baby giraffe during my trip to the Zulu-Nyala Game Reserve in South Africa earlier this year. I envisioned processing this photograph using the high-key technique similar to the warthog, rhinoceros and elephants photographs. As I mentioned in some of those posts, photographer galleries in South Africa featured many wildlife prints processed in this manner. I realize many people don’t like this type of image but for me it’s a post-processing challenge that is quite fun. I hope you like the results.

The gestation period for giraffes is between 13 and 15 months in which a single calf is born. Twins do occur on rare occasions. The mother gives birth while standing. When the calf emerges it falls to the ground which severs the umbilical cord. The mother then spends time grooming the newborn and helps it get to its feet. The newborn giraffe is about 6 feet tall. It begins running around within a few hours of birth. I think this one was a few weeks old.

This image was taken with my Canon EOS 5DS using my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 II Lens set on 400mm. The camera was set on Aperture Priority mode with the aperture set at f/8, shutter speed at 1/400th of a second and the ISO set at 800. This is a single image processed in Lightroom and Photoshop (mostly Photoshop).

This image is best viewed large. Click on the image to enlarge it. Please use the section below to post your comments, questions or suggestions.

© 2016 T. Kahler Photography

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