Chamois Family
Chamois in Malá Studená Dolina, Slovakia. The chamois (Rupicapra) is a goat-antelope genus native to mountains in Europe, including the European Alps, the Pyr...
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Chamois in Malá Studená Dolina, Slovakia. The chamois (Rupicapra) is a goat-antelope genus native to mountains in Europe, including the European Alps, the Pyrenees, the Carpathians, the Tatra Mountains, the Balkans, parts of Turkey, the Caucasus, and the Apennines.
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Jan, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken on Tatra Mountains, in Slovakia. It was taken during a hiking to Ve?ké Spišské Lake, near Téryho Chata, one of the hundreds beautiful spots of High Tatra Mountains.Time
I took this photo on 18th August 2013 at 14.05 local time. I started my hiking early in the morning because I knew that I would have spent much time shooting. I'm quite fast with hiking, and I have a good pace usually, but I know that I spend much time for finding locations and subjects for my photography, and I like to explore the environment and the surroundings as much as I can.Lighting
That day the light was soft thanks to the clouds in the sky. Sunlight was coming and going away continuosly because the sky was covered with clouds moving quite fast, but you don't always need sunny days to take good photographs. Even a cloudy day can give you a good different light a create a different atmosphere.Equipment
For this photo I used my Canon Eos 7D with my Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM. My settings were: ISO 160, f/7.1, 1/125s, focal lenght 300mm.Inspiration
I was in the middle of my hiking, I reached Ve?ké Spišské Lake and I was going to stop there to take some photos and to have a snack before going back. Suddenly I heard a whistle far away (yes, chamois whistle!), so I decided to follow that sound. I started to walk off the hiking path for a while, when I saw with my binoculars a herd of chamois on the other side of the lake. I couldn't lose that moment, but I was too far! So I started to get close to them, without making noise and avoiding to be spotted by them. I had to climb through a large field of rocks on the lake side to reach the place they were, and it took me a while, but finally I got closer to them. I started to take some photos trying to get closer again as much as I could, without disturbing them of course. Finally, I got this photo, as it looked like a perfect "family portrait" to me. Later, I had a "friendly pic-nic" with them: I sat on the grass and ate my snack watching those beautiful animals while they were eating the grass. That made my day!Editing
Yes, I always do post-processing on my photos, as I think it's essential. This photo didn't need much post-processing though, the composition was right and the background was blurry enough to make the chamois stand in the photo. I just worked on the white balance and on the contrast. Then I applied some sharpening only on the animals, not on the background.In my camera bag
I always bring with me my Canon Eos 7D with the lenses that I usually use, the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5 USM which I use for landscapes, my Canon EF-S 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS (my first lens ever, I started with this and sometimes it can be useful), and my Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM for wildlife. Also I bring a polarizing filter and a ND 64 filter for long exposure. Then of course my tripod is an essential part of my equipment. I also bring with me a gorillapod, the small flexible tripod. It's amazing, you can attach it pretty much everywhere and very useful for different perspectives, for example on the branches of the trees! I also have a bag rain cover for my camera, since too many times it started to rain so bad while I was outside in the middle of the woods. And finally batteries, memory cards, and a small cleaning pen for the lens.Feedback
If you want to take good wildlife photos, you have to be patient. Sometimes you can be lucky, like I've been in this case, I found them during my hiking. Although I had to climb some rocks and go much off the path to reach them, and before seeing them, I had to follow their whistle, so I had to trust my ears. Many times you will go out to shoot for wildlife and you will come back without any good photo or any photo at all, it's part of the game. My suggestion is to be always aware, use all your senses, listen to every noise and sound, keep your eyes wide open and look all around you. Some animals are easy to spot but some others are really difficult to find, and they can run away from you even before you notice their presence. But nothing beats the moment when you have the chance to see these or any other beautiful animal in their natural habitat!
