A quick grab shot

I had wanted to get a classic shot of a giraffe drinking for many years, and when I saw this one approaching a waterhole at the lodge I was using in Kenya in 2008, I ran to position myself directly in front of the animal to get this head-on symmetrical shot. Giraffes are most vulnerable when they drink because should a lion attack from behind, the few second lost it would take for it to stand up and start running, or to prepare for the attack by getting into kicking position, could be fatal. That's why a giraffe will often stand at a waterhole for 30 to 60 minutes watching, sniffing the air, and listening before it bends down, spreads its legs, and drinks. As often is the case, quick grab shots aren't necessarily artistically perfect. The original photo had a white, overcast sky in the background and there was a tree sticking up from behind the giraffe that looked terrible. I cloned out the tree and then replaced the sky with clouds that would produce the diffused lighting you see here. Note that the clouds are out of focus. That was crucial because the tops of the trees in the distance are blurred. Had I replaced the sky with sharp clouds, it would look like this: sharp giraffe, blurred trees, sharp clouds. That would be optically impossible. Hence, the blurred clouds. I used Filter > blur gallery > field blur in Photoshop to make this happen. My settings were 1/1000, f/8, 500 ISO, and I used a 500mm Canon f/4 telephoto hand held. I didn't have enough time to set up a tripod.