I posted this picture a few years ago, but as long as I'm showing my favorite African pictures, this one qualifies to be in that group. It took me years and many trips to East and South Africa to get a perfect shot of a giraffe drinking. This is uncropped. I saw the giraffe approaching the pond in front of m lodge at Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya, and I ran to position myself directly in front of the animal. I wanted the symmetry and strong graphic design only a frontal shot could create. Giraffes are extremely vulnerable to attacks by lions when they drink, so no matter how thirsty they are, they will stand at the edge of the water listening, smelling, and looking for danger. This can take 30 to 45 minutes -- because one mistake can mean their death. I shot this with a 500mm f/4 Canon telephoto, and my settings were 1/1000, f/8, and 500 ISO. The original sky was white, so I added the dark gray clouds. I had to make the clouds out of focus in Photoshop to match the blurred vegetation in the background.
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