frost and bull elk

Gallery: WildlifePosted November 16, 20102,088 views7 comments

This morning I found this bull on a frost-covered prairie dog town. Lately I have been working on getting more dynamic poses, and I will post some running animals soon, but I liked the tension in this one as he prepared to bolt. I also liked the color bands on the frosty ground.

D3S, 200-400 @400, 1/250, f6.3, iso 900. Cropped for 8x10 ratio, basic selective sharpening and levels/curves.

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Rohn B. McKee on November 16, 2010 at 11:42 PM

I love the gesture Lon
beautiful animal

Registered on November 18, 2008, 109 Posts, 415 Comments

Comment posted by Robbie Knight on November 17, 2010 at 1:25 AM

Great EV and comp - thanks for sharing.

Registered on April 10, 2010, 30 Posts, 135 Comments

Comment posted by Gary McGhee on November 17, 2010 at 7:29 AM

Great shot Lon, the stance is great.

Gary.

Registered on April 15, 2010, 142 Posts, 2416 Comments

Comment posted by Marsel van Oosten on November 17, 2010 at 3:34 PM

Prepared to jolt allright! Great tension in the eyes, the leg placement perfect. Composition not too exciting, but I'm sure you looked at alternative croppings.

Registered on March 9, 2004, 285 Posts, 2277 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Tomalty on November 17, 2010 at 5:55 PM

You can feel his tension. Grat color in the BG.
Cheers
RickT

Registered on October 11, 2006, 212 Posts, 1610 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on November 19, 2010 at 8:57 AM

Hi Lon,

I like the pose here - definitely agree with you that he looks ready to hit the road. Colour palette here works well for me too. My only "nit" with this image pertains to something totally out of your control - the lighting: you exposed this one pretty much spot-on (and all the other techs look totally solid), but to my eye the flat light leaves the image...well...a little flat! I guess what I'm saying is that with elk (and deer, for that matter) there are so images of them out there (and many excellent ones) that to be a real head-turner literally everything (including fantastic lighting) has to come together...

Cheers...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on November 19, 2010 at 11:09 AM

You are so right, Brad, this is is full early morning shade with no notable light source. It is a problem at this very moment as I sit at the computer, looking out the window at all gray skies, my plans for a morning camera outing aborted!

And as Marsel noted, this is limited in composition possibilities, too. But one thing I can do, is practice getting some of the elements right so I am more ready when everything comes together. I appreciate you guys' accurate observations and hope others can note and learn from these challenges we all face.

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments