Mervyn Hurwitz
February 2025 - Mountain Gorilla and Infant
About the Image(s)
Another Gorilla picture taken in Rwanda. Although these animals are wild and live in dense jungle, they are quite placid and used to human encounter. As you can see we were pretty close 20-30 feet.
Sony A7IV with 70-200mm lens at 160mm. ISO 1600, f8, 1/100secs in Manual mode.
We hiked for 4 hours until we found this family, so unfortunately the light was not ideal.
I removed the green background and converted to B&W in Photoshop, and used Topaz AI to sharpen and denoise.
7 comments posted
Who doesn't like a mama Gorilla and her baby. I would have liked to have seen the original image. There is so much darkness in this image that I would consider cropping in to get more of the lighter facial features of mother and baby. Posted: 02/05/2025 00:03:08
This is a very nice image-intimate. I agree with Dean about the very tight crop, although both versions are really nice.
Posted: 02/07/2025 20:27:49
Posted: 02/07/2025 20:27:49
Thank you for your comments and suggestion of a tighter crop. However I feel that the arms provide a frame for the infant. Posted: 02/10/2025 14:54:57
Photographing gorillas is truly a life-changing experience. This is a wonderful capture with mother and baby. I would agree with the others regarding the crop. But getting the mum at eye level gives the entire picture an increased feeling of intimacy. Just beautiful. Posted: 02/13/2025 11:25:40
I really like your crop with the frame of arms. Very nice.
Posted: 02/14/2025 22:16:28
Posted: 02/14/2025 22:16:28
I also prefer the arms in the frame. There is something about the baby's eyes- are they too light? not focused? or is it just a tired baby? Posted: 02/15/2025 02:00:49
The photo is very nice. I agree that the arms in frame adds a nice touch. I think that all of your edits were good choices. Having the subject looking at the camera really helps add to the piece. Overall well done, its a strong photo. Posted: 02/15/2025 04:20:31