Young bull

Gallery: WildlifePosted December 28, 20152,244 views11 comments

I went looking for bison this morning, when temps were dipping below 0 degrees F, not straying far from my truck in Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota. This bison is a young bull, just mature enough to hang out with the boys rather than the cow herd. He is prime and nearing active adult status. He was the one to offer me the best angle of light as the sun came up and I liked his clean look and proportionally large curved horns. This was taken off a bean bag on the truck window.

D610, 200-400 @300, ISO 500, 1/320, f5. Comments encouraged.

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on December 28, 2015 at 5:23 PM

Great light and angle on this image, Lon. I like the way you got the one horn clean against the bg and the nice catchlight in the sunward eye. A very nice image.

devil

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Erhardt on December 28, 2015 at 7:47 PM

I'll second Dennis' comment, nicely done! Looks good with the sliver of sky cropped off the top too.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 245 Posts, 2421 Comments

Comment posted by Cay-Uwe Kulzer on December 29, 2015 at 5:42 AM

Lon,

very nice light conditions and the technically you managed the exposure very well. If one would crop the top sky then the focus to the main subject is even more focused.

Registered on January 27, 2004, 494 Posts, 4021 Comments

Comment posted by William Bickle on December 29, 2015 at 9:29 AM

Hello Lon,... nice morning light hitting the bull on one side, and you have pulled out some shadow detail on the other side.
I too would crop the top a little, where the sky is appearing at very top. Overall a sharp, crisp capture.

Bill
www.Billbickle.com

Registered on June 13, 2011, 183 Posts, 1702 Comments

Comment posted by Pete Bengeyfield on December 29, 2015 at 10:55 AM

The catchlight really makes this one. Nice!

Registered on December 2, 2003, 1247 Posts, 3439 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on December 29, 2015 at 2:14 PM

Thanks for comments, thus far. I find it fascinating that suggestions are to eliminate the sky sliver, because I made a conscious decision not to do so, thinking its inclusion helped to make the landscape have distance scale, emhasizing the out of focus layers going back. So, those of you who might be tuning in for a look, I would be interested in how you see it, too.

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

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on December 30, 2015 at 11:06 AM

Lon, the lighting is terrific. It sets off the bull nicely as it lights up the snowy prairie grasses. I too like this with the sky cropped out, but also think that sky vs no sky is a matter of what story you want to tell. For me, cropping the sky emphasizes the bull and the light, while leaving it in creates more of a sense of the animal in his wide open environment.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on January 3, 2016 at 1:20 PM

Very nice Lon! Love the light in this and I am also surprised by the sky comments. I like the sky and it provides more depth to the image. Not sure why others don't like it. I think removing it would hurt the image myself.

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on January 3, 2016 at 5:40 PM

Very nice lighting and I think the centered comp works well here Lon devil

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on January 13, 2016 at 6:01 AM

Lon,
Great light and perfect capture devil

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by Jeff Bushnell on January 19, 2016 at 6:56 PM

Love the light and animal in the landscape feel of this image.

Registered on April 3, 2011, 20 Posts, 122 Comments