Bull Elk Silhouette

Gallery: WildlifePosted September 1, 2011234 views15 comments

Hi! My name is Marlise Launstein. I'm 11 years old and this is my first post at NPN. I'm Jenaya's sister and am really happy to be on NPN now!

I know my dad has posted a picture of this same bull elk that looks a lot like this one, but it's one of my favourites from last year so I wanted to start with this picture.

I was using Jenaya's old camera so the resolution isn't very good, but I still liked the way this turned out.

It was so cool to watch this guy look everywhere for a bull to fight and bugle over and over again! I was in the truck with my brother while Jenaya and my dad went out with their tripods to get better angles, but when he climbed this hill I got this shot.

This is cropped to about 50% of original and my dad helped me decide the composition.

Thanks for letting me be part of NPN! I'll probably be posting mostly in the Avian gallery because birds are my favourite things to photograph, but hopefully I'll be able to post some bears and elk and deer here too.

FUJIFILM FinePix S 1800 @ 90mm
ISO 100
1/210sec @ f/5.6

Comments

15 comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on September 1, 2011 at 12:58 AM

Marlise,

What a great first post in this gallery! Wonderful, simple composition (although not a standard placment of the subject). But it works very well. Only two colors, but they really convey a lot of emotion. You certainly continue the fine tradition set down by your dad and sister. Looking forward to your future efforts as well.

Peter

Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments

Comment posted by James Campbell on September 1, 2011 at 2:09 AM

Excellent first image Marlise! The posture of the elk is proud and your composition works beautifully silhouetted against a huge open sky. Well done and we look forward to seeing more

Registered on January 12, 2009, 48 Posts, 377 Comments

Comment posted by Guy Runco on September 1, 2011 at 2:17 AM

Another Launstein? Unbelievable!

Nice first post Marlise, looking forward to more from you.

Registered on September 9, 2008, 77 Posts, 705 Comments

Comment posted by Balan Vinod on September 1, 2011 at 2:43 AM

Marlise ..like the minimlaisitic approach here, and works very well ..well done ..

Balan Vinod

Registered on March 20, 2006, 889 Posts, 2312 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on September 1, 2011 at 1:10 PM

Hi Marlise, a big warm welcome to you on NPN.

And what a memorable image to start with! I love the inclusion of so much negative space here. Personally I would have probably given this bull a bit more room left and bottom, but as is it works remarkably well for me. This shows you have a great creative mind and with that much stimulation within your family I think you have lots of potential. I do hope you will post more thought provoking images in this gallery.

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

Comment posted by Carol Nichols on September 1, 2011 at 7:14 PM

Hi Marlise - nice to have you join us. There sure is a lot of talent in your family! The silhouette of the elk is very nice. He's in a terrific position so that we can see his magnificent antlers. The black against the blue background is very striking and I love the negative space, but I also wish there was a little more room to the left and bottom of the elk. I'm looking forward to more of your images.

Registered on November 7, 2007, 161 Posts, 1420 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on September 2, 2011 at 9:10 AM

Hi Marlise,

Welcome to the NPN Wildlife Gallery and I think this is an absolutely GREAT first post. I quite like the extreme placement of the subject in the frame and your use of negative space. Equally as importantly, I think this is the type of image that could have many practical uses (you've left some great space for text if it was used as a lead-in image in a magazine article, etc.). One really minor technical thing - one my monitor the top two corners appear a little darker than the rest of the sky (i.e., vignetting) - this is most commonly thought of as a minor lens flaw and is easily handled during image processing. I'm betting that if you do need a little help with dealing with this you have a LEAST two "coaches" nearby that could help you out!

Thanks for sharing this - really looking forward to seeing more from you!

Cheers...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Marlise Launstein on September 2, 2011 at 6:46 PM

Thank you very much! My dad says if you don't like the position of the elk you can blame him, because he's the one that talked me into putting it that far down and left! :) I do have room to move him a little right and up so I might try that too. Thank you for helping me think about how to make this better! This is one of my favourite pictures and it made it through to the final round in this year's Veolia contest!

Registered on August 31, 2011, 28 Posts, 175 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on September 2, 2011 at 8:47 PM

Welcome to NPN!! Great first post Marlise

That is one handsome looking bull elk. I like the simple but strong feeling this photo portrays. Keep up the great work, looking forward to seeing more of your photos.

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by John Launstein on September 3, 2011 at 2:25 AM

Hi Mar! I'm still jealous of the great pose you captured on this bull! I sure wish you had a better camera in your hand when it happened, but I'm very proud of you pulling this off! (For all of you who weren't there, Jenaya and I were 100yds away shooting from a different angle and Mar and her younger brother were just happily taking pictures from the truck...when she showed me her silhouette shots I couldn't believe how well she had captured these.) Her composition was just a little crooked and had the bull a little up and right but when we played with it in PS she and I both really liked him in this extreme position and it needed cropped and rotated a little anyway so this is the result.

Congratulations again, Mar...this is a shot I would be proud to have taken...I have some similar shots, but you got THE angle that showed off that incredible 7X8 rack better than anything I have!

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

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on September 3, 2011 at 9:10 AM

Magazine Cover! That was my first thought when I opened this image. What a powerful silhouette. Very nice. Way to go Marlise!!

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

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on September 4, 2011 at 4:19 PM

Well now it seems I am late to the party. I love minimalistic images like this. Well done here Marlise! Yeah it could use a tad more space below and on the LHS but I do like it a lot as presented, especially with that cool cyan sky.

Registered on March 22, 2011, 385 Posts, 2068 Comments

Comment posted by Marlise Launstein on September 5, 2011 at 12:28 AM

Thank you for your comments!

Registered on August 31, 2011, 28 Posts, 175 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Olsen on September 5, 2011 at 5:36 PM

Welcome to NPN Marlise!
Very nice post here with a photo that really shows the lonesome life these animals live for most of their lives. I like the inclusion of the grass in the foreground.
I might like to see just a little detail in the silhouette as I find myself trying to decice if the bull is looking away or toward me.
Congrats on a fine image and again...Welcome!!

Registered on October 19, 2006, 306 Posts, 1571 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on September 16, 2011 at 6:06 AM

Another shot to be proud of Marlise; I'd certainly love to have this in my collection :^)

Welcome to the NPN once again. Very much looking forward to seeing more of your birds, although with shots like this I'm also hoping we'll get to see more animals as well!

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