Fashionable Stripes Photo

Photographer’s Note

In the Ngorongoro Crater, there are zebras everywhere, of different shapes and sizes. Here we see a mother and baby, amongst a group of others. Apparently, every zebra has its own unique pattern of stripes on its body.

So why the obvious and bizarre 'standout' stripes?
The zebra's main predator, the lion, is colorblind, so if they are standing in long grass they will blend in. Also, as zebras are always in herds, it is confusing to the lion to see a mass of stripes and therefore it can't pick out any individual too easily, or specific parts of the body to attack. The tse-tse fly is also believed to be visually confused by the striped pattern.

This photo was taken while standing up from inside the safari jeep, as it rolled slowly through the grasslands inside the crater.

skippy007, atljax, dareco, ribeiroantonio, bracasha75, fabio_ts, elihesamian, abulafia, jusninasirun, woozbman, noborders has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

atljax (177) 2008-05-11 19:31

David,
You take a lot of really cool photos and this is certainly one of them. You captured a really nice moment and quite sharp for shooting from a distance. Nicely done :-)

Best regards,
Mark in Santiago, Dominican Republic

dareco (17104) 2008-05-11 20:12

Oh the little baby is SO CUTE!!!! I want one!!! Another really fantastic picture and an interesting note. TFS

ribeiroantonio (21891) 2008-05-11 20:49

I really love the hypnotic effect of the various stripes, in particular the head of the front animal against the one on the left back. And the little one is simply gorgeous.
For the photo, I believe the left hand side is a bit tight. Otherwise, the picture is very good with nice colours and sharpness.
Antonio

bracasha75 (22017) 2008-05-11 22:20

Helo David
Another one great from Tanzania fauna and great sharp shot
TFS
Cheers,Braca

skippy007 (6971) 2008-05-12 1:06

Nice shot Dave, They all look the same to me, nice colour & sharpness, looking at your pic after a little while those stripes start to merge, I can see how a lion would be confused. Nice note.
Thanks
Santo

SteveH (3893) 2008-05-12 1:06

Hi David, those stipes do their job well. I did see the small one until I read dareco's comment! Lucky I don't have to rely on my sight to get a feed. I have found recently that if I upload images as they look "right" in PS when displayed in a browser the colours lose saturation and look flat. Not sure if you have experienced that here, as I think the colours, esp the greens, could do with a bit more saturation. To overcome this I open the jpeg from a browser to see if the satuation is right before posting. cheers, Steve

trekks (14262) 2008-05-12 1:27

hi David

The black and white stripes stand out strongly even in thumbnail. Good composed shot at 200mmFL. Must be quite an experience going through safari.

tfs, bill

fabio_ts (13674) 2008-05-12 2:20

Zebras are always really photogenic :o)
and you have captured a nice daily-wild-life scene Dave, compliments!!

have a nice week,
Fabio.

elihesamian (26091) 2008-05-12 6:28

Hello David,
this is another good wild view of the nature that you show us very well.indeed amazing graphism we can find on this animal !
well captured and composed and good sharpness and coloers you resulted,Thanks,
Best Wishes
M

abulafia (4802) 2008-05-13 7:42

This is a good one David, and first time i've been mooned by a bunch of zebras:)
Looks like the small one spotted you though.
Also a good note.
Harry

jusninasirun (10185) 2008-05-13 8:04

Hello David. Beautiful stripes and yes, rather fashionable. Sharp looking image captured well in natural habitat. Thanks for sharing and best regards. Jusni

Bluejeans (32083) 2008-05-13 9:51

Ola David,
Grande cena de vida animal , muito lindas esta zebras a sua textura de pele e fantástica gosto muito das riscas , ficou muito bonitas estas duas zebras mãe e filho(a) , parabéns!!
Um abraço Gonçalo

Angshu (33607) 2008-05-21 0:39

Hello David
The B&W stripes has a 'hypnotic' effect if I stare on them for too long. Liked the kid zebra looking towards you. I wish you would not have cropped the head of the zebra in the left BG, but otherwise a fine shot, with very good use of shallow DOF.
Regards
Angshu

ewiczek (374) 2008-05-22 4:19

wonderfull shot this zebras, nice color

noborders (14199) 2008-05-31 3:04

Zebras are so photogenic !
You got them really nicely, I would have tried a square format here though - as the ones on the right are so far away from the others...
Beautiful anyway,
Cheers,
Cath.

pablominto (40508) 2008-06-23 9:58

Hello David,

Very photogenic beasts, what more do you need than stripes in black and white..!
Well framed, and I like the little fellow staring straight into the camera...

Greetings,
Pablo -

kschanna (2634) 2008-12-22 21:37

Hi David,

This is a brilliant shot with a very good low-ish PoV. I like the dark tones of green and its kinda funny how the zebras are facing away from the camera.
Thanks for sharing
Kamran