Hi again, everyone! Here's another in my bighorn series from the first half of the year. This guy probably ranks 3rd in my "biggest ram" rankings for 2014, and I've followed and photographed him several times over the past few years. In fact, when I crawled into position in the willows he was bedded down in for a shot, I barely got my viewfinder to my eye before he rolled his head back, looked at me closely, and seemed to say, "Oh, you again!" before putting his head back down and resting.
I spent most of one hour with him waiting for a decent shot with him alert...he never alerted.
I never intended to go B&W with this but it presented quite a challenge in processing only in respects to the right crop while dealing with several interesting and perhaps competing colours throughout the image. I LOVE wildlife in B&W, and perhaps nowhere more than in bighorn images, so I thought I'd give it a try. I kind of like the results, but would be delighted to hear your thoughts on it! I lose the reds and burgandies of the OOF willows and the creamy tans of the surrounding bighorns, but the latter works both ways and losing the deep greens of the spruce in the ULC really helped my eyes relax and soak in the great look from this majestic old ram.
Anyway, should be interesting to hear your thoughts, so please share (with thanks!)
Filed Notes:
Nikon D600
Nikkor AF-S 500mm f/4 IF-ED
ISO 1000
1/250sec @ f/6.3
-0.7 EV to hold highlights in muzzle
tripod mounted with legs spread to allow me to lay in the willows and not appear as a threat to the resting herd
Processing Notes:
Converted from RAW using Phase One Capture One Pro 7
Adjustments to tone and contrast using Nik Color Efex 4 and Viveza 2 in PS5
Converted to B&W using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2
Cropped to app. 60% of original to eliminate distracting sheep around subject
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