Granny, What Granny?

Great portrait. The eyes make it.

Hey Russ,

The colours do it again for me - love this wolf. No real composition nits for me, but after looking at the larger version I think the depth of field is perhaps a bit thin - the nose pad is pretty soft. So I think stopping down a bit more, even if it pushed the ISO higher, would have strengthen this shot. BTW...not sure how much you've experimented with pushing the ISO on that camera - but it has amazingly good high ISO performance, especially for a 24 MP camera (I have full res ISO 3600 and ISO 4500 sample shots on my blog if you care to take a look)...

On your comment about making eye contact with them: "Maybe if they do, you're in trouble". Not my experience - have had several close encounters with wild wolves, including a lot of powerful and almost magical eye contact with them and have never felt even remotely threatened. Only two cases of fatal attacks on humans by wild wolves in North America since 1900, and one of these is still under debate (looking like it's equally as likely that a bear killed the victim, and wolves fed on it later). For some reason the situation in Europe and Asia is very different, and far more humans have been killed by wolves there.

Thanks for sharing this...such a striking animal...cheers...

Brad

Thanks Brad for all the good information. I've just begun to experiment with the ISO on the D600. I would have never used auto ISO on my D300s as I didn't want to lose control over that exposure factor. But I'm rapidly gaining confidence in anything up to 1600, maybe even higher on the 600. I've taken shots up to 6400 that are way better than 800 on my D300s. In retrospect, I would have selected a smaller aperture to gain some DOF while still keeping acceptable shutter speeds.

This was a really cool experience, and one I hope to repeat. I've never been around wolves before and found them to be magnificent animals in this experience. At the same time, they are like domesticated canines and so very different. Fascinating to watch and interact with. The owner of this facility pointed out the facts about wolves in the wild and how they fit perfectly into a healthy ecosystem. He pointed out how often wolves have been blamed for kills that, in actuality, they are only scavenging. An irrational fear of wolves is exactly that, irrational. This is definitely a trip I will make again. Thanks again.

Beautiful animal and mesmerizing eyes -
excellent image!
Sandy

Good portrait shot, love the eyes!

Awesome wolf Russell, the eye color is stunning. Actually, dogs also (generally) seem to avoid eye contact, in my experience. I work with them daily and I find it difficult to get the majority of dogs to look at you directly to examine them. Nice image quality, the limited dof may actually be esthetically helpful.