Legends of Montana
Bighorn sheep
Logan Pass
Glacier National Park
Montana
Mar, 2015Views
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michaeldonaldson
October 15, 2020
I’m so glad it DOES Aaron! One of my favorite songs too by John Denver...who I’ve seen and performed in person. Hope you enjoy the rest of my small sampling of work
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Behind The Lens
Location
I shot this photo near Hidden Lake on Logan Pass at Glacier National Park, Montana.Time
It was late afternoon after a long hike.Lighting
The late afternoon sun to the west was semi back-lighting these Bighorn sheep as they grazed about 600 yards (550 meters) away. The soft lighting was perfect, because it lit them up just enough so it wasn't harsh.Equipment
Canon 500D with a Tamron 150-600mm lens. Shot this manually at 600mm mounted to my Manfrotto tripod and joystick ball head.Inspiration
While hiking at Logan Pass at Glacier National Park, I noticed Bighorn sheep grazing the side of a nearby mountain; they were very small to the naked eye because they were so far away. At 600 yards (550 meters) they never did see me...so I loved this candid shot of them in their natural state. I've always wanted to get a shot of Bighorn sheep and with my new Tamron 150-600mm lens, I knew this would be the best opportunity to capture these "Legends of Montana"; hence, the title I gave it.Editing
I did some minimal editing. Mainly some minor cropping and exposure adjustments.In my camera bag
I have a backpack with my Canon 6D full-frame DSLR with a 50-105mm lens, plus various Canon lenses, including my ultra-wide angle, macro, 70-200 f/4 zoom, and Tamron 150-600mm. Also carry a Manfrotto tripod and joystick ball head and shutter release cable, including a few must-have ND, Gradient and Polarizer filters.Feedback
Yes; be patient when it comes to wildlife. Many times they're not in the perfect spot for lighting. Wait them out, because most wildlife move around when feeding or to transit to another location. If possible, stay still, but if you're far away enough not to distract them, position yourself for perfect lighting and/or to make sure you don't have too many distracting obstacles that will drown out or take away from your primary focus of the animal you're taking the photo of; keep the background simple and if possible, use the lowest f-stop possible to blur the background and manually focus on your subject. Lastly, turn off the Image Stabilization or Vibration Reduction control on your lens if mounted on a tripod...you won't need that feature and your photo will turn out sharper!
