About the Image(s)

This photo is another in the series of migratory river crossing along the Mara river (Serengeti/Tanzania). Some
sections of the Mara river have high banks, so sometimes there's a jumper. With this shot, the subject is that jumper,
and his wild jump helps tell the story of how animals behave with levels of panic and terror while crossing. The
aesthetic I like in this shot are the contrasting elements: dusty trail/splashing water and rugged red river bank with
flat water. There were branches in foreground (see original), which were there in every darned shot because our jeep was
blocked in by other jeeps. But even if not blocked, a short duration of a crossing like this one wouldn't warrant
driving around for a better spot, although we've seen a crossing that lasted almost an hour, and our guide said he saw
one mega-herd that lasted from breakfast until dusk.

It was a bit overcast and my settings weren't optimal for freezing the jumper and a deep DOF, and had the jumper alerted
me of his intention maybe I could have zoomed in on him for this shot;)

Shot hand-held with Fuji Xt-3 and 50-140 f2.8 (+ 1.4x) at 70mm (35mm equiv=105mm), f/4, 1/800, using iso 160. Cropped to
keep the line of animals from edge to edge and from river bank to midstream. Boosted the red and dusty highlights,
lifted mids, sharpened and removed the offending branches.

The water's edge doesn't look horizontal because the river bank is not straight, and I'm wondering if that appears as a
flaw: should I apply some more transforms to get that waterline (along with the horizontal line midway up the river
bank) to be perfectly horizontal?