Forest Path, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Created in-camera by moving the camera during the exposure.)
Time for a brief respite from wildlife photographs. I made these blurred images during a camping trip last summer in Rocky Mountain National Park. I produce these images entirely in camera, by moving the camera during a relatively long exposure. No Photoshop needed. I am fascinated with the marvelous texture.
Blur of pine trunks and forest grasses, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. (Created in-camera by moving the camera during the exposure.)
In addition to the great texture of the image, I love the sense of experimentation and luck involved with this type of shot. Usually I am a photography control freek: I carefully set the exposure, manage depth of field, and ensure that my camera is locked down as solidly as possible. With these images, by contrast I guess at the shutter speed, press the shutter, wave the camera around a bit, and see what I get. There is an element of craft to be sure — I look for strong lines that I think will make beautiful images. But there is a lot more spontaneity, experimentation, and luck, than my normal work.
Small forest plants with a dusting of early-morning frost, Rocky Mountain national Park.
After all of the in your face color in the last few posts, I decided to change things up with much more subtle image. I captured this image last fall on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park. I was shooting moose when I paused to look down and saw something much more interesting. These tiny leaves were flocked by an early fall frost, which beautifully highlights the texture of the plants.
On a purely technical note, this picture is sharp. On the full-sized image, I can see the ice crystals on the leaf at left. Sharpness is generally overrated: strong seeing is way more important that technical perfection to a successful image. Still, there’s something pleasing about taking a tack sharp, highly-detailed photo.
Coyote in Tall Grass, Rocky Mountain National Park
I was in Rocky Mountain National park at first light this morning to take advantage of last night’s snow. I was fortunate to watch this coyote (Canis latrans) and three companions as they hunted in a meadow for food. I like the way that this image demonstrates the animal’s perfect camouflage.
Sparring Elk, Rocky Mountain National Park
Here’s another image from last fall. It was a great pleasure to watch these bulls spar at first light. They didn’t appear to be bothered by the lack of cow elk to observe their struggle. Be sure to click on the image for a larger version.
A bull elk rests in an aspen grove during the fall rut, Rocky Mountain National Park
A fair bit of wildlife photography is spontaneous. The animal does something interesting (or just makes an appearance). I put the autofocus sensor on the eye (or at least try to), place the animal in a pleasing composition (if there’s time), and then blaze away at eight frames a second. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, the challenge of catching the decisive moment — shooting the animal — is one of the great pleasures of wildlife photography.
But, I claim previsulation credit for this elk (Cervus canadensis) (a.k.a. wapiti). As soon as I saw this large bull in this grove of aspen, I anticipated this shot. Big bull, resting after a hard day defending his harem during the rut. Framed on all sides by aspen. I really like this image a lot. (Troublingly, my wife, and number one photo critic, is not as enthusiastic.) Please let me know what you think in the comments. And be sure to click on the photo for a larger view.
Mule Deer with Large Antlers showing remnants of velvet. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
I photographed this large Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) buck in Rocky Mountain National Park last fall. Ordinarily I would have used a wider framing for this shot. However, I used a tight crop here to emphasize the size of the deer’s antlers. Note the remnants of the deer’s velvet on the antler at camera left. Be sure to click on the image for a larger version.
Inching closer to being caught up . . .
Posting out of order, but I like this image and it is ready to go, so . . . . I photographed this wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) in Rocky Mountain National Park a month or so ago. Although I practically grew up in the park, this was the first time that I’ve run across wild turkeys (and, frankly, the first time I looked). All of the birds in the park are the Merriam’s subspecies (m. g. merriami).
Two things surprise me about this bird: first, they are actually rather attractive, with interesting colors in the feathers and colorful heads. Second, they are difficult to photograph. Although somewhat tolerant of my presence, they tended to slowly move away. (Read: lots of butt shots). And they are almost exactly the same height as the grass on which they were foraging, making hard to get an unobstructed shot. Given all that, I’m pleased with this image.
My dad and I made an overnight trip to Rocky Mountain National Park earlier this month to photograph the elk during the second or “false” rut. The park is wonderful in December. The crowds are gone, the snow is falling, and the bulls in the main bachelor herd spar almost constantly. In fact, we almost had too much snow — at times the morning snow was so heavy that it obscured the elk. (Click on the images for a larger view and a slideshow).
Though the snow made it a bit challenging to photograph the bulls fighting in Horseshoe Park, the snow made for some wonderful images of the cow and calf herd in Moraine park. There is something whimsical about a show-covered elk.
As an added bonus, we ran across this mulie. Unfortunately another rude photographer ran this guy off before I could get the perfect image, but I’m reasonably happy wit this one.
One last image of the elk fighting. Less of a sense of motion than the first image, but I like the eye contact.
I made this blurs during a trip last weekend to Rocky Mountain National Park. I am quite taken by William Neil’s and Alan Briot’s blur work, so when the elk stopped doing interesting things, I took a few moments to make these images. Note that the blur effect is created entirely in camera, not with software post-processing. I really like the play of the light on the aspen boles in the first image and the great sense of texture. In a perfect world perhaps the background would be less busy.
As always, click on an image for a slideshow/larger version.
More elk photos (and some Bosque images) shortly.
I took another look at the bull elk from this post and saw a monochrome image lurking in the original color file. After converting to monochrome I added a slight cold tone and cropped a bit from the bottom. I think this image is more effective than the first. Agree?
Rutting Bull Elk with Harem
These images are from a recent trip to Rocky Mountain National Park to capture the rutting elk Unfortunately I couldn’t get the bull above in good light with a nice background. The image above is a little different from the standard elk image, but I like the way that it captures the aggression and hormone-fueled drama of the rut. Click on the image for a larger version, and please post a comment.
Unlike the bull, this cow cooperated by posing in front of a nice background in good light. It’s easy to overlook the females when there are big-antlered bulls around, but photographs of the cows show a completely different “personality” or “feel” to the elk. I think this one works.
Yellow-bellied Marmot on Rock
One again I’m playing catchup with a backlog of photos. These are the final batch of images from a shoot in Rocky Mountain National Park this summer. I really like the composition of the image above. The images below are good to, though perhaps not quite as dynamic. As always, click on the images to see a larger version.
Bighorn Sheep at the Precipice
At first I wasn’t crazy about this image of a bighorn looking over a precipice. But somehow the image grew on me. Let me know what you think of this image in the comments.
I am torn about this elk silhouette as well. On the one hand, I like the colors and the fact that this isn’t just a boring, “straight” portrait of an elk. On the other hand, it somehow seems a bit too sentimental. Kind of like a painting-on-a-mirror that one might buy at a low-end souvenir store.
Finally, here are two more bighorn images. These guys were in absolutely gorgeous late evening light. Unfortunately, all they wanted to do was rest in the sun. Still, I don’t see bighorn all that often, so I was happy to make these images. I just wish this ram would have rurned his head a bit to camera right.
Monochrome Lodgepole Pines
These are three very different landscape images that I shot in Rocky Mountain National Park this summer. The image above is a tight shot of a lodge-pole pine stand. This image is a bit serendipitous. I was standing around with my supertelephoto waiting for a pica to come out from under a rock when I noticed the cool-looking light playing on the trees across the valley. A few moments to find a pleasing arrangement of trees and light (and a little work on the black and white conversion in Photoshop) and voila. Though it’s not readily apparent in this images, several of the trees in this photo were killed by pine beetles. It will be a very different park in a few years without the lodge poles . As always click for a larger version/slide show.
Sunrise Near Gore Range Overlook
This is a blended exposure of a sunrise near the Gore Range Overlook. I like the stacked ridges in this image.
This is the Gore Range from the Gore Range Overlook. Pretty, but I’m am ambivalent about the composition.
I captured these American Pika (Ochotona princeps) images during a shoot this summer in Rocky Mountain National Park, achieving one of my “checklist” photo goals for this summer. I put these animals on my checklist for a couple of reasons. First, obviously, they are highly photogenic. Second, they are a welcome challenge to photograph. Pika are smaller than a Guinea pig, move fast, and do not sit still for long. Third, their biology is interesting. Pika do not hibernate; instead, they spend the brief alpine summer collecting and drying hay to consume during the winter, making careful use of toxic plants to keep the hay piles from decaying.
The final reason, however, is sobering. Pika are relics of the last ice age, and are extremely intolerant of heat. (Some reports say that they will die within one hour if exposed to temperatures higher than 75 degrees Fahrenheit). To some degree they can move up slope to beat the heat, but for obvious reasons that only works until they hit the top. (The animals in these images, for example, already reside among the highest mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park. They cannot go higher in search of cooler temperatures). Pika face further problems from global warming, because they depend on snow cover for insulation in winter. In short, Pika are at serious risk from climate change. I made these images to capture the Pika while I still can, and to bring some small amount of attention to their plight.
Ok, enough soapbox. I really like these images, though in reviewing and editing them I realize that I often tried to get too close to the Pika, struggling to capture frame-filling images (like the third image below). My favorite images from the trip show how the Pika fits into its environment (for example, notice how well the Pika above is camouflaged in the talus slope) and show just how small the animal is.
If you enjoy these images, please post a comment below. And please give a thought for the Pika next time you think about climate change.
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