Staking his Claim

Hi again, Everybody! This is another picture from the elk rut in Waterton last fall. This bull came out of the forest with a few cows and kept circling the meadow to make sure he was the only male around. Before long, there were too many cows to count and he was busy keeping them all together.

I really like his look in this picture, even though there was almost no light left (he didn't come out of the forest until it was almost dark). The spots on his neck are all burrs stuck in his coat.

Nikon D600
Nikkor AF-S 200-400mm f/4 IF-ED @ 400mm
ISO 3200
1/30sec @ F/5
tripod mounted

---------

Dad's notes:

Converted from RAW using Phase One Capture One Pro 7
Minor tweaks in Nik Color Efex Pro 4 and Viveza 2
Desaturated upper background forest as it rendered very blue in capture
Light noise reduction using Nik DFine
Cropped slightly to improve comp