Hi Everyone! Here is one of my pictures of the bull elk my dad posted with the mountains behind. I named him "Stunner" because he was just stunning to watch and photograph! He was a big 7x8 with beautiful shape and character to his antlers. My dad said he told you that this guy put on a show for us, and he sure did! I was already really happy with my first bunch of pictures but once he bedded down in front of us it let me move around for angles with better backgrounds.
He also bugled a LOT and he even gave me my first pictures where you can see steam in the bugle, but sadly not in this one.
I am addicted to elk photography after two weeks photographing them in Jasper this fall!
Now I'm also addicted to using the 300mm f/2.8 lens that Jenaya usually uses. I like how bright it is in the viewfinder and I love the way the pictures turn out! I'm fighting her for it next time we go out together!
I hope you like this one!
[Note from Dad: Please view the larger version for more accurate colour and much improved detail!]
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Nikon D7100
Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED VR
ISO 1600
1/250sec @ f/3.5
-1.0 EV
Tripod mounted
Comments
5 commentsaltough your father advised to have a look to the large version, I find that a good image also stands out in smaller sizes. That is the case for me in this image, especially due to the angle of photography. Anyhow, I would have prefered not to have the tree in the background as it is. In my opinion it would have been nicer if the tree would hav been more at the right to let the elk stand out better.
But as I already commented on one of the photos of your father, we do not deal with subjects that may follow our instructions, we deal with the moment given to us
Yep, that is one stunning bull! And that's no bull!
This is a really unique shot - I like the very low angle and how the elk's placement on a ridge means you have foreground, subject, and background ONLY to deal with (i.e, pretty much nothing immediately behind the elk to deal with). The obvious exception is the pine tree....and I have to agree with Cay-Uwe that it's a bit unfortunate that it's there (but obviously you could do NOTHING about that).
One suggestion: IF the image presented above is a crop and IF you have more room on the left side, perhaps it might be worth experimenting with re-cropping and in doing so shifting the subject to the right and including MORE of the clean background (and less of the tree). Shifting the subject to the right would also serve to give it more room to look into in the frame, rather than looking out of the frame.
Loving the elk shots!
Cheers...
Brad
PS to Dad: Why should the larger version have more accurate colour?
In response to Brad, my comment re the larger version having more accurate colour references the fact that the algorithm which resizes the larger file here on NPN shifts the colour slightly but noticeably (generally the darker tones seem most affected but overall it appears a little warmer with slightly more contrast/pop). Easily solved by saving a separate 720px version except that adds an additional step back into the work flow and I don't personally have a use for a 720px version beyond that simple "need," and with the amount of processing backlog I have with 3 shooters, I've opted to take advantage of the auto-resize option and live with the shift.
I can only repeat what I put on one of your Dad;s images
WHAT A SIGHTING