Grazing Bull Elk

Gallery: WildlifePosted February 8, 201649 views2 comments

Josiah and I decided this year that we would start recording more aspects of the lives of our favourite animals, instead of an exclusive pursuit of portraits or dramatic behavior/action. I always find it hard to pull myself away from focusing on the biggest bull elk and waiting for a great pose or bugle or moment of action, but I did force myself to point the lens toward other moments this fall.

We found this guy grazing in the tall grasses along the edge of a forest just as the sun cleared the mountain ridge at dawn. Although I was pleased with the warm tones in the colour original file, because of the balance of shadows to direct side light, I just immediately gravitated to B&W.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this one...I know it's not a typical elk image.

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Nikon D600
Nikkor AF-S 500mm f/4D IF-ED
ISO 500
1/1000sec @ f/6.3
-0.66 stop underexposed from meter
Mounted on FEISOL CT-3372 Elite tripod with Acratech GV2 ballhead and Wimberley Sidekick
Slight crop from full frame

Comments

2 comments

Comment posted by Hisham Atallah on February 8, 2016 at 10:08 PM

Love it, John! The eye contact and low angle create a very intimate look. Very engaging.

Cheers,

Hisham.

Registered on November 5, 2014, 121 Posts, 352 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on February 9, 2016 at 10:16 PM

I like this angle and the graphic nature created by the somewhat contrasty black and white treatment. I find the grasses a little unfortunate in that they intrude enough to cover detail on nose and lower legs, yet you really had no control of that.

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