Drinking Moose

Gallery: WildlifePosted February 7, 20112,264 views42 comments

This why Alaska is so great. I went down to create a reflection image of Polar Bear Peak (the one in the background) when this young bull wandered into the pond, took a couple drinks and walked right next to me and left. It took some quick thinking to capture this. Not too often you get a chance to take wildlife shots with a 50mm lens!

Carl
www.photographalaska.com

Comments

42 comments

Comment posted by Scott Fricke on February 7, 2011 at 3:55 PM

I hate it when moose ruin my water reflections! Great capture, you don't see too many wildlife shots with such an impressive back drop, excellent work on the fly!

Registered on January 19, 2007, 133 Posts, 1448 Comments

Comment posted by Darren Colello on February 7, 2011 at 4:59 PM

Carl, What a beautiful setting. Superb image, thanks for sharing.

Registered on July 27, 2009, 175 Posts, 1100 Comments

Comment posted by Clinton Bauder on February 7, 2011 at 5:05 PM

Wow, neat. Would be a great shot of a moose by itself but with all the nice colors it's really special. Well done.

Clinton

Registered on December 8, 2009, 31 Posts, 231 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Imprevento on February 7, 2011 at 5:09 PM

That must have been an awesome experience! Great image!

Registered on September 11, 2010, 29 Posts, 78 Comments

Comment posted by Larry Reitz on February 7, 2011 at 5:13 PM

Great shots of animals in a spectacular landscape are hard to beat. Well done.

Registered on September 7, 2007, 32 Posts, 335 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Walters on February 7, 2011 at 5:35 PM

Great light and color. Nice reflection and I like the light hitting the top of the mountain.

Registered on October 30, 2005, 405 Posts, 3693 Comments

Comment posted by Gary McGhee on February 7, 2011 at 5:47 PM

Great catch Carl, must have been a wonderful experience.

Gary.

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

Comment posted by Max Waugh on February 7, 2011 at 6:18 PM

Carl, the exposure is pretty remarkable, especially the moose's face. How much adjustment, if any, did you have to make in post?

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Carl Battreall on February 7, 2011 at 7:41 PM

Thanks everyone. Since I was there for a landscape, I had my 2-stop graduated nd filter on, so that helped. I got off two shots before he got too close. I took one shot, looked at the histogram, looked for any clipping and took the second one. In a perfect world, he would have stopped so I could shoot at a smaller aperture for more depth of field, this was at f5.6.

Registered on August 29, 2007, 24 Posts, 222 Comments

Comment posted by Jason Kim on February 7, 2011 at 8:52 PM

Wow, that is really close. Nice one.

Registered on July 1, 2006, 60 Posts, 1233 Comments

Comment posted by Carol Nichols on February 7, 2011 at 10:12 PM

Real beautiful Carl

Registered on November 7, 2007, 161 Posts, 1420 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on February 7, 2011 at 11:03 PM

One of the best Moose images I have ever seen!

If only this guy had a large rack, this would have been even stronger.

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Harshad Barve on February 8, 2011 at 2:10 AM

beautiful setting. Superb image

Registered on July 25, 2010, 39 Posts, 210 Comments

Comment posted by Igor J. Zaleski on February 8, 2011 at 2:12 AM

Great meeting

Igor

Registered on January 19, 2011, 17 Posts, 51 Comments

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on February 8, 2011 at 6:49 AM

Seldom, things happen in a perfect way !

Jagdeep Rajput

Registered on April 29, 2008, 686 Posts, 2857 Comments

Comment posted by Mitch Erwin on February 8, 2011 at 9:52 AM

Carl, this is wonderful all around and glad you got to witness this!

Registered on April 24, 2006, 98 Posts, 656 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on February 8, 2011 at 10:55 AM

Superb. I am impressed that you were set up and calm enough in your reactions to test the shot and be ready for the one click, resulting in the excellent landscape with a properly exposed moose as the star. Good work.

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

Comment posted by Balakumar Kaushik on February 8, 2011 at 11:28 AM

Great surrounding. A fine image !

Registered on January 4, 2008, 98 Posts, 1403 Comments

Comment posted by Carl Battreall on February 8, 2011 at 12:33 PM

Moose are really common where I live, I probably see one everyday. So I was not nervous when he showed up. He and two cows came from behind me and as soon as I heard them I began talking to them, very loudly. The cows had no interest in being near the noisy human. The whole time the bull was around I talked to him, reminding him I was there.

I always talk to moose when I am around them, as long as they are aware of where you are at all times, they are pretty tolerant of you.

Thanks again for all the praise, unfortunately, this is my best wildlife photo, so anything else I post will be a let down.

Registered on August 29, 2007, 24 Posts, 222 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Day on February 9, 2011 at 1:07 PM

Awesome capture. Would make a nice magazine cover.

Registered on August 5, 2008, 25 Posts, 173 Comments

Comment posted by Fabio Giarrizzo on February 9, 2011 at 4:45 PM

Beautiful colours and composition- awesome image, Fabio

Registered on December 3, 2010, 90 Posts, 1614 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Siggins on February 9, 2011 at 10:39 PM

What a special combination of landscape and wildlife. Nice quick thinking.

Registered on October 11, 2007, 115 Posts, 223 Comments

Comment posted by Marsel van Oosten on February 10, 2011 at 8:07 AM

Totally cool. You trained him well!

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

Comment posted by Petr Slavik on February 12, 2011 at 4:08 AM

I have never seen so beautiful image of the moose like yours. Light, colors,copmosition. Everything works perfect together. Congratulation, Carl!

Registered on December 12, 2010, 15 Posts, 12 Comments

Comment posted by Andrius Pašukonis on February 12, 2011 at 11:37 PM

Fantastic picture!

Registered on July 23, 2005, 111 Posts, 408 Comments

Comment posted by Sandipan Dutta on February 13, 2011 at 11:23 AM

Amazingly beautiful ...The background mountain, vibrant colors, reflection and wide angle perspective...everything is just perfect ...

Registered on March 9, 2009, 171 Posts, 493 Comments

Comment posted by Oscar Dewhurst on February 14, 2011 at 6:52 PM

Really nice image

Oscar

Registered on August 6, 2009, 85 Posts, 502 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Chambers on February 15, 2011 at 1:44 PM

Gorgeous shot Carl. Very nicely composed, and I love the dark blue reflection. Congrats on the EP too!

Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments

Comment posted by Monica Siri on February 15, 2011 at 2:16 PM

Beautiful image, Carl. Congrats on EP.

Registered on September 20, 2009, 132 Posts, 3764 Comments

Comment posted by Barbara Sammons on February 15, 2011 at 4:35 PM

Carl, glad you were ready to take this shot. It's a great capture. Congrats on WP for this image.

Registered on September 20, 2009, 109 Posts, 323 Comments

Comment posted by Carl Battreall on February 15, 2011 at 5:44 PM

Thanks everyone.

Registered on August 29, 2007, 24 Posts, 222 Comments

Comment posted by Helio Cristovao on February 15, 2011 at 7:22 PM

Looks great if you ask me. All elements work so fine and smoothly along the comp everything fits in place. Great job

Registered on September 15, 2009, 83 Posts, 434 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on February 15, 2011 at 8:55 PM

Great catch!
Congrats on the nice EP!
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Kah Kit Yoong on February 16, 2011 at 1:32 AM

Just awesome!

Registered on September 27, 2006, 636 Posts, 10682 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on February 16, 2011 at 10:43 AM

Sweet--great timing and great shot, congrats, Carl!

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on February 17, 2011 at 6:53 PM

Awesome Image Carl

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Upjeet Singh on February 18, 2011 at 6:33 AM

this is a master piece Carl, Getting Moose with a 50mm is in itself incredible...The background is like a cherry on the top . Like the early morning light on Mt. tips but I feel the image needs a little more sharpness.

Registered on May 8, 2010, 50 Posts, 55 Comments

Comment posted by Balakumar Kaushik on February 18, 2011 at 9:58 AM

Congrats on the EP, Carl !

Registered on January 4, 2008, 98 Posts, 1403 Comments

Comment posted by Carl Battreall on February 18, 2011 at 1:07 PM

Upjeet,
The moose is nice and sharp when you look at a hi-res image. I also wish the background was sharper but it was too dark and the moose was moving too fast to shoot at an aperture smaller than 5.6. Oh well, can't win them all.
Carl

Registered on August 29, 2007, 24 Posts, 222 Comments

Comment posted by Kirk Greene on February 19, 2011 at 7:39 AM

Congrats on a great image and the EP!

Registered on May 12, 2004, 191 Posts, 1578 Comments

Comment posted by Christine Adams on February 22, 2011 at 8:31 PM

Awesome shot Carl! Perfect opportunity utilized! Congrats on your EP!!

Registered on January 24, 2006, 119 Posts, 1871 Comments

Comment posted by Anand Narayanan on April 21, 2011 at 12:19 PM

Beauty

Everything is in place.

Registered on October 25, 2009, 110 Posts, 835 Comments