'Pigpen'
With her tongue stuck out and the flies around her head, she reminds me of the Peanuts character 'Pigpen'.
With her tongue stuck out and the flies around her head, she reminds me of the Peanuts character 'Pigpen'.
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Apr, 2017Views
2358
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Awards
Contest Finalist in Farms And Barns Animals Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in The Brown Color Photo Contest
Peer Choice Award
Featured
Staff Favorite
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Superb Composition
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
All Star
Genius
Emotions
Happy
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lorigallihughnims
August 27, 2017
AAWWW I love her! Coo's remind me of a cow version of a teddy bears. Lol.
amanavinash
September 01, 2017
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
Velmead Common in Fleet, Hampshire, UKTime
This photo was taken at 1.30pm, but it had taken several attempts to get. I was on an assignment for my local photography group, we had been tasked with capturing the Velmead Highland cows. When I finally submitted my entry I wrote: To complete this assignment I have now been up to Velmead 4 times! The first attempt - at sunset. I was already losing light (running late!) and I knew it but I got lucky as the cows were near the gate - however as most of the cows were in amongst the trees and the light already poor, I didn't get anything I was happy with. The 2nd attempt - 6am the following morning! determined to get them in the golden hour, got there, it was foggy, couldn't see further than about 50ft, spent 1.5 hours walking 3.6 miles around the common and through the wooded areas, and couldn't find the cows. Came home with some spooky fog/tree shots. Attempt 3 - took the Phantom 4 drone - planned to keep it low and use it to find the cows. Drone wouldn't fly as DJI released a new app for P4 that wasn't on my iPad - no internet, not even 3g on the phone. Went home. Attempt 4 - found cows, nice sunny day, got some great shots, spent about an hour sat with them - I love cows. We are only allowed to chose one for this - so I chose this one, a quick nose lick. (note 'Pigpen' wasn't my chosen entry, it was 'Nose Lick' that I entered and subsequently won the photo group assignment. Nose Lick is posted in my photos on Viewbug.Lighting
It was a warm and bright sunny afternoon, lots of good light as it's early spring, much better than the dark fog that I encountered a few days before!Equipment
Nikon D810, Sigma 150-600mm lens (focal length at the time of shot was 220mm). 1/320 sec f 5.3 ISO 220. No tripod used this time (although it's usually with me, instead I was sat on the ground with the lens balanced on my knee.Inspiration
As it was part of the assignment, I was looking forward to it as I had never met the Highland cows on our local heath. I really enjoyed it as they are very docile, friendly animals and were quite happy to have me wander among them taking their photo.Editing
I use Lightroom for all my post processing as I shoot in RAW at the highest resolution, I made a few adjustments to the shadows, blacks and saturation to bring out the light on her face and to highlight the flies that are buzzing around her head!In my camera bag
I rarely leave home without my Nikon D810, Sigma 24-70, Sigma 150-600, but I also often take my Sigma 70-200 to fill in the gaps but the weight of my backpack is often 8-12kg so I have to be choosy, I have an old Sigma 15-30 that I bought when it first came out over 12 years ago, I dug it out recently and have been using it a lot on the D810, it has amazing sharpness to it on such a wide field of view. At gigs, I usually add a second camera body in the Nikon D7200 which is a lovely camera and handles low light really well alongside it's bigger brother the D810. I've also qualified for a PFAW with the CAA so the DJI Mavic Pro has joined my kit lineup and has now been squeezed into my trusty Lowepro Flipside AW backpack, it's amazing how much you can get in that bag!Feedback
Cows are really gentle creatures, and as long as you don't have an excitable dog with you, it's very easy to get quite close and just sit with them to take photos. I always use a faster shutter speed when capturing anything that moves to ensure you get a sharper shot, and good depth of field always adds clarity to your subject. Do take a tripod for shots where you're standing up, but don't be afraid to get right down on the ground for some interesting views of cows looking down at you!
