Storm Rising
Apr, 2015Views
1388
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Awards
Action Award
Chatter Award
Zenith Award
Creative Winter Award
Curator's Selection
Top Shot Award 21
Legendary Award
Member Selection Award
Featured
Contest Finalist in Photographer Of The Month Photo Contest Vol 10
Judge Favorite
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Peer Award
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
All Star
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Superior Skill
Genius
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p_eileenbaltz
June 24, 2015
Spectacular image! Congratulations on being chosen a contest finalist, and good luck.:)
PRO+
daveyjphotog
October 12, 2015
It can be very difficult to get a good buffalo shot thats powerful and mesmerizing(?) and stands out from the rest. This one gets it all. Great shot!
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
First of all Thank you so much for choosing my image to feature! What a huge honor this is for me! This image was taken in Wind Cave National Park, Hot Springs South Dakota. A regular spot for me that i explore since moving to the black hills a year ago.Time
This image was captured just prior to sunrise. I typically try to shoot early morning; especially when i am out to shoot wild life it is when they are often found in lower areas and more energetic.Lighting
When shooting wild life and landscapes I am totally dependent on available natural light so I always shoot in Raw to have a little room to play with exposures. On this particular morning I had two dynamics coming together; I had a rain storm coming down from the north and a clearing to the east as the sun was coming up so I knew i was going to get some sky drama and the views here are amazing enough but when i came around the bend and seen this lone magnificent bison I knew then i wanted major drama and I could see the image in my mind that i wanted to create. so I got up ahead of him to put my self in the right position to put the sunrise behind him. I knew i was going to have to expose for both the sky and his dark fur at the same time and because I shoot in Raw I knew i had some room to play and already had pre-set my camera for what I needed for the sky exposure but with his dark fur i needed more of a middle ground setting so made a few exposure adjustments that would give me a brighter exposure all around and because I was shooting in raw I knew i could darken the sky and lighten the bison and foreground in raw conversion i could make multiple exposures from there.Equipment
When shooting bison that are as close as this guy was to me there was no time for tripods so this image was shot hand held with a Canon 5D 70-200 f2.8 usm combo settings were: 1/500 f2.8 iso 250 at 70mmInspiration
I am often inspired most by just being in the moment and what it puts in front of me. I rarely plan a shoot beyond location and best time of day.Editing
always~ my images always need post processing since I shoot in RAW. Once my images are adjusted in digital photo professional my images are converted to a TIF file which I take to photo shop to further adjust light/contrast and color balance. usually i am done at that point on most images but there are times like with this image where I had to make several exposures of this image for the sky, bison & grass. Then with all my exposure layers stacked, by hand I blended the image together to get exposures for all areas right.In my camera bag
I tend to take everything I have with me, I just don't know what I will need so better to have it than not. Canon 5D w/grip Canon 50D w/grip 70-200 2.8 100-400mm 24-105mm f4 85mm 1.8 50mm 2.8 100mm 2.8 macro lens baby 3G with accessory lens Ef-s 10-22mm Gitzo G1348 carbon fiber tripod with a manfrotto pistol grip ball head manfrotto 680B monopod with ball head UV/Circ.POl and ND filters lots of memory cards and batteriesFeedback
Scout an area to get a feel for what is possible and what will be needed in your bag, know where the sun rises and sets, what animals travel frequently through and at what times. Get up early and shoot during dawn and dusk, Be Patient, Be Prepared for anything. keep a safe distance from wild animals. Exposure is everything so learn it well and Know your camera well enough to make speedy setting changes on the fly and use back button focusing for sharper images post processing is necessary especially for blending multiple exposures. and most importantly, rules were made to be broken when you are being creative :)
