Ever-Watchful

Gallery: WildlifePosted August 4, 2011117 views6 comments

Hi all! Thought I'd post a couple of my mountain goat images from Jenaya and my trip to Glacier National Park last week with our family.

I chose this one in part for the wonderful expression on this nanny's face, the graceful turn of her head, and the overall tonality of the background rocks and snow. Yes, the snow is a little off-colour. It was dirty from a construction project in Logan Pass this summer, so bringing it back to white meant throwing everything else wildly off of true white balance, and I decided not to layer/mask to correct this though am open to your thoughts on this!

The second reason I chose this image is because I'd appreciate your suggestions on cropping. This is currently about 85% of original, with just a little trimmed off the left side and top. I tried an alternate crop with a little more off the left and some off the bottom to eliminate the dirty knees, and this seems a viable option as well. In the end I went this way because the extra leg length adds some height to the image.

Incidentally, what grabbed this cautious nanny's attention was a bighorn ram about 80yds down the slope to her right. Kind of cool, but no chance of capturing both in the same image so I just squeezed off a few shots before she decided he was OK and continued on her way.

Thanks in advance for any comments and suggestions you might have!

Nikon D7000
Nikkor 300mm f/4 AF-S with TC14-EII
ISO 400
1/640sec @ f/5.6
monopod
cropped to app. 85% of original

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on August 4, 2011 at 9:59 AM

Hi John, if I was going to crop this photo I would do so right above where her hair is dirty/stained. Then crop around her to balance the image. It is a good photo of the mt. goat. thanks for sharing.

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

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on August 4, 2011 at 2:16 PM

I like this a lot. Great expression. Background works great. I wouldn't touch the dirty snow in response to your question. I wish for just a bit more room on the right side of the image.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on August 5, 2011 at 12:48 AM

Wonderful pose John! Being that there's apparently nothing more on the RH side of the frame, I reckon you've already made the best choice of crop. One thing I would do though, if this were mine, would be to add some more light to the subject's eye to bring it up some more.

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments

Comment posted by Ajit Huilgol on August 5, 2011 at 1:33 AM

I would add a little more room on the right side, John, and I wouldn't add such a heavy frame, especially at the bottom! Otherwise, it is a lovely image.

Registered on December 19, 2008, 302 Posts, 2055 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on August 5, 2011 at 11:59 AM

Hi John,
I like the nice head turn with good eye-contact and superb detail in this.
To answer your questions; I am not bothered by the BG snow not being white enough at all.
What does not work for me though is the chosen framing/crop. Like other have said as well, the room on the right is a bit too little. If you wanted to you could still add a tiny sliver. Furthermore they way the legs are clipped is a bit unusual and goes against my natural tendency to either include all of the legs or go for a tighter portrait excluding the legs all together. Hence your described alternative crop makes more sense to me.

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by John Launstein on August 6, 2011 at 6:21 PM

Thanks for your comments and suggestions, everyone! I think there's probably more potential in the eye than I've been able to realize yet, though I did mask two layers at alternate exposures and contrast to help bring this out a bit.

I was going for a strongly one-sided comp here with lots of room for the nanny to look into, but part of that decision was a very distracting element immediately right of her. I don't think I could have managed much more room to her right in the field, but could certainly add some canvas. In the end, I don't see this as an "epic" mountain goat image that demands I do everything possible to maximize its potential, so I'll probably add it to my work-in-progress files for further tweaking at a later date (read, long, cold Alberta winter stretch). :)

Thanks again...

Registered on April 5, 2011, 223 Posts, 1193 Comments