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Cellpic Sunday – The Majestic Kudu

Kudu Bull.

Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Kudu bulls, with their spiraling horns, are iconic African antelopes. They are native to eastern and southern Africa and inhabit various habitats, including savannas, woodlands, and mountainous regions. Technically, the correct name is Greater Kudu. There is a smaller variety called the Lesser Kudu, which has similar characteristics but a slightly smaller build.

The most striking feature of male kudu is their massive, spiraling horns. These can reach up to 6 feet (1.8 m) in length. Their coats are a beautiful shade of tawny brown with distinctive white stripes running vertically down their sides. Their large ears help them detect threats.

Kudu are typically found in small herds, with males usually solitary or in small bachelor groups. They are primarily browsers, feeding on leaves, twigs, and fruits. This synopsis of the Kudu was sourced here.

About the photo: I don’t have many cell phone pictures from our tour of Kruger National Park. Most of the wildlife is too far away for close-up images. We saw this beautiful kudu crossing the road before us on the last game drive. After stepping into the bush from the road, he paused as if to invite us to capture his magnificence. This kudu was close enough to capture on my Samsung S23U cell phone.

I tried to separate the antelope’s body from the close bushes behind him in Adobe Lightroom Classic. I recently discovered that Lightroom Classic now has several blur presets that use the new blur tool to create several blur effects. I thought this photo might be a good experiment to see what preset options are available. Twelve Adaptive Blur Background Presets are available on the Develop module’s left panel. They range from Subtle to Strong with several special effects. After reviewing the options, I chose the Circle preset. You can hover the pointer over each preset to get a preview and then click on your choice to add the preset to the image.

Kudu Bull
Original image edited for exposure.

For comparison, I’ve included the original format image with only basic edits for exposure. Since background blur was an option in Luminar Neo, I used the background blur tools with varying degrees of success. The earliest versions of the Lightroom Classic’s Adaptive Blur presets were buggy and caused Lightroom Classic to quit functioning properly, though it never “crashed.” I needed to close and reopen the program to get it back to normal. The latest update to Lightroom Classic seems to have stomped out the bug. For this photo, I used the 14.1.1 release. Feel free to comment on whether or not the tool adds or distracts from the image.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s also acceptable. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

36 comments

  21. Great photo John! Two things struck me with this photo. How many unique and beautiful animals are out there in the world. Also how easily an animal that size can blend into his surroundings. Thanks for sharing him with us!

    Reply

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