Finally - a cow moose!

Gallery: WildlifePosted January 31, 2015389 views4 comments

Having seen the bull moose repeatedly for many weeks, last weekend I finally saw a couple of cow-calf pairs. This is one of those cows.

On my last post, a couple of the comments asked about the Tamron 150-600mm. I agree with Brad's comment - "it softens up near the long end of the focal range, especially on subjects at moderate (say 50m) to long distances (100m or more)"

What I can add - it's nice, I love the extra reach it gives, and am very happy to have it... but it is also heavy + slow. I usually hand-hold, liking the freedom to recompose quickly (or being too lazy to set up a tripod). HH doesn't work for me with this lens.

I use it when in my car and usually attach a monopod to it, anchor the monopod between my body and the door-panel by leaning against them, and resting the end of the lens on the window frame for additional support.

I'm not sure how successful this lens would be with quick-moving subjects (but it is fun trying!). The timestamps on my photos show this cow was standing in the same spot for over 3 minutes, watching me as I watched her... which allowed me to take several frames with a range of aperture and zoom-values. When browsing, moose generally just seem to plod along, and even when jumping a fence, their movement isn't extreme by any stretch (they just walk up and small-hop over).

I also find (real or imagined) that results from it mounted on the 70D body, rather than the 7D (I use both), are better.

ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/320sec, Tamron 150-600mm at 350mm, LR5 and NIK.

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on January 31, 2015 at 12:34 AM

Looks good to me Karen! I like the pose you caught as well as the overall composition. She looks nice and alert. Thanks also for the comments on the Tamron lens. I do wish the tree on the left was a bit darker, so it would attract less attention. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on January 31, 2015 at 12:06 PM

I will echo John's comments. I would have expected a darker color to the conifers. I am wondering if the dynamic range was the cause. I suggest double processing this for color correction. Worth a try, anyway.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on February 1, 2015 at 8:36 PM

Nice habitat shot. The light puts the focus on the moose.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on February 2, 2015 at 3:38 PM

The exposure on the moose looks very good. The very busy and contrasty background is a detraction, in my opinion, but you handled the challenging light and location as well as possible.

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