Yellowstone Bison In Winter

Just back from a very cold Yellowstone trip. Temps ranged from 5 to -35 F. Much less snow than prior years, but still a great place to get shots of large mammals with clean backgrounds. I know, sun is on the wrong side of this, but I liked how it cast the shadow forward in the snow.

That's an awesome image.
Really beautifully composed.

Bison were always grabbed my attention as a kid and I loved reading about them.

Have you others to share?

avondale87 wrote in post #19350634
Have you others to share?

Just back, but will be sharing several more once I have time to do some editing.

Fantastic image with intense contrast. Looking forward to seeing more from your trip.

A few more from my Yellowstone trip. the sitting bison is a pretty heavy crop.

Okay, these aren't bison, but Yellowstone is more than Bison. Plenty of ducks and swans and we saw eagles every day, though most were perched.

Also not a Bison Plenty of elk, but I didn't see any adult elk, though I did see some younger males.

More non-bison. These two male moose dropped antlers recently. You can see the nub at base of skulls.

These were "The Most Difficult Shots", Yellowstone NP, Feb 2022 - Why is this shot difficult?
a) The exposure of dark subject in snow white conditions. To get this, one must over-expose often up to 3 stops.
Moose have little contrast detail around eyes or within the areas of fur
b) The falling snow often fools the autofocus of the camera. If the animal was not running, I would have switched to manual focus.
c) The moose is running
d) it is -30° F at the time of the shot.
e) I wanted to capture the animal slightly moving toward me (I check this by looking at the position at the base of the ear. The far ear needs to be closer to front of the animal.
f) I want the far front leg to be moving forward. By having the far leg forward this opens up the angle of the chest of the animal, presenting a more powerful overall impact.
g) I want to see all 4 legs - In some running positions, only 3 legs are visible.
H) I didn't want brush in the background directly behind the moose as this would hurt the contrast beteen the moose and the willows.

Shot with OM System's Olympus EM1X and M.Zuiko 150-400mm lens

Another great series in very beautiful surroundings.
Certainly harsh conditions.
Thanks for sharing.

The EM1X and that lens has done you well.

avondale87 wrote in post #19352000
The EM1X and that lens has done you well.

Ive been happy with my two E-M1X bodies. Traveling is much lighter and smaller vs full frame gear I previously used. These two bodies will be going on the auction block soon as two newer OM System OM-1 bodies will arrive this month.

Look forward to your comments.
I like what I read

More Bison

Very cool shots, our Yellowstone trip was also amazing. I don't have a long enough length for a lot of what we saw, but it's a heck of a place. Nice work!

Great work Buddy.
We were in Yellowstone last fall in October. Temperature was around 0 Celsius, a more comfortable day. We had a light snowfall the night before that made the “spotting” and image capture easier. Moose, Bison, Elk and a Grizzly all on one day.
With the frigid elements as they were for you, your superb series has more meaning.
Wonderful.