Bison Pair in Mountains

Hi Randy, I do recall the previous photo from this location. The composition here seems a bit too balanced; meaning that if you drew a vertical line down the middle of the frame the two sides left and right appear essentially like mirror images. The pano effect only serves to emphasize this imho. Whether this is a good thing is up to the individual, guess I have given my opinion.

I think that a higher vantage point would be beneficial here (guess you didn't have a ladder strapped to the top of the old station wagon at the time?). I'm assuming there is a cut in the hillside for a road at the bottom of the frame, so it's playing with my imagination a little. If you could have got up a bit higher you could have eliminated the rocks at the edge without further cropping.

I bet this was a wonderful time to be out shooting some bison. I assume it would be frowned upon, and maybe a little unsafe to get too close to these big guys but I think I would be looking at some other lens choices in the wide angle variety. Just a thought, and I have a lot of crazy thoughts...

Hi Gary. Thank you for looking and taking the time to write the helpful comments.

My guess is that the similar photo with a single bison is the beast on the right. It was taken at 300mm, which brought in nice details. Yeah, national park regulations are pretty strict about how close a person can be to a bison, bear, or other wild animal, but still people are gored each year. I might play it safer than a lot of folks, but a closer shot with a wider angle would be good.

I see what you mean by balance and symmetry. I might play with the scene to see how it looks with either bison cropped out.

As far as vantage point, this was a hill, and the road where the car is parked is probably 50 meters behind, and maybe 10 meters below, me. The only opportunity to capture this scene from a higher point would have been to move far left, which might have provided a nice view, too.

Nice image. Love the snow capped mountain back ground.

Hi Randy, this is a very nice scene and I find the symmetry pleasing as it's offset a little by the generally diagonal slope and the uniqueness of the mountain range behind. I do however find the sky a little odd as blue skies generally have a gradient range of hues which this one doesn't have, and to my eye it looks a little unrealistic. I do however like the aspect ratio and feel it works well with this image.

Hi Jack and Rick, thank you for looking, and for your comments. Rick, I agree that the sky looks a bit odd, since it is of a single gradient. But, that's how I remember it, and other than reducing its luminance, I didn't adjust the sky. Maybe it was just that fresh clear mountain air.

Nice habitat shot Randy. It looks much better in the larger view. I love the background and your use of the plano crop. Some eye contact might have made this better, but it works well as is. Thanks for posting, Dave