Prairie Portraits - Bison & Pronghorn

Last week I had a chance to zip over to western Montana for a few days and focus on some big game species. It was an active time for the big critters, as all species I encountered were either in their rut (Elk, Pronghorn), post-rut (Bison), or pre-rut (Mule Deer, Whitetail Deer) periods.

I got a lot of decent action and behavioral images, but none of them have the nice, distraction-free backgrounds and technical merits that the simple portraits have. There is a lot to be said for those times when you have the time to set up and position yourself exactly where you want to be, without the subject moving on you!

Here are a couple portraits of classic prairie species; Bison and Pronghorn.

Bison:
1D4, 100-400mm @ 120mm
handheld, prone position
f9, 1 1000th of a second, 1000 ISO

Pronghorn:
1D4, 100-400mm @400mm
handheld, kneeling (camera resting on knee)
f9, 1/2500th of a second, 1000 ISO

Beautiful photos Tom, especially the Pronghorn

Very nice shots Tom. Good that you were able to get over to Montana this time of the year. The low angles on these shots make them very pleasing to view. The prairie BG's are always nice to see. Hope to see more from your trip.

Great shots Tom.

Mybludog wrote in post #17205735
Beautiful photos Tom, especially the Pronghorn

Hoowsan wrote in post #17205750
Great Shot!!!

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KT29 wrote in post #17205776
Very nice shots Tom. Good that you were able to get over to Montana this time of the year. The low angles on these shots make them very pleasing to view. The prairie BG's are always nice to see.

2n10 wrote in post #17205808
Great shots Tom.

Thanks for the comments - the kind words are appreciated.

KT29 wrote in post #17205776
Hope to see more from your trip.

Ok, here's one of the elk. He's bugling, as the rut was still on.
1D4 w/ 400mm f2.8 (no TC) @ f5.0
1/1000th of a second, 1000 ISO
tripod support w/ gimbal head

Tom great shots! Especially love that bison one. How close were you?

Beautiful captures Tom!!

All are great, but i really like the Bison as well...the low PoV makes it look huge and majestic.

great stuff Tom.

Great set of portraits Tom.

Amazing shots, Tom; fun to see as most of your posts are. How did you get the position for the bison and pronghorn? Were you "attached" to the camera, or were those triggered remotely?

Great set.

alexcooke wrote in post #17207341
Tom great shots! Especially love that bison one. How close were you?

Thanks!

I'd say I was about 18 to 20 yards from the bison. At first I was about 50 yards out, and I started making my way closer a couple steps at a time . . . take a few steps, lay down in the dirt, zoom, focus, compose, shoot, chimp, then get up, take another couple steps closer, repeat. He started to show mild signs of agitation with me at about 20 yards, so I didn't try to go any closer after that. Probably should have, though - the odds of him charging and stomping me are fairly small, and the odds of getting an even better image from a closer distance are great! Wish I could have a redo on that.

1Tanker wrote in post #17207639
Beautiful captures Tom!!

All are great, but i really like the Bison as well...the low PoV makes it look huge and majestic.

Thank you, Kel. I agree; if I had been standing up for that shot, it wouldn't be a very good picture.

Larry Johnson wrote in post #17207649
great stuff Tom.

Thanks, Larry

jhayesvw wrote in post #17209782
Great set of portraits Tom.

Thanks, Jeremy

Snydremark wrote in post #17209804
Amazing shots, Tom; fun to see as most of your posts are. How did you get the position for the bison and pronghorn? Were you "attached" to the camera, or were those triggered remotely?

Eric,

Above I described how I got in position to the bison.

With the pronghorn, he was near the road, so it was pretty easy. I saw a small herd feeding up ahead, so I brought my car to a stop. Then I got out and waited 5 or 10 minutes for one of them to get into a position that would have a nice background. While waiting I moved somewhat closer to the herd. The buck (all other herd members were does) was furthest from me - about 40 yards, I suppose (the does were all just 10 or 20 yards away). And when he stepped up onto a small raised area I got into a position that lined him up against that darker area of sky in the background.

I just knelt on the road, zoomed all the way in to 400mm (wished I could zoom even more), adjusted ISO and aperture, achieved focus, composed, shot, chimped, re-adjusted settings (increased exposure compensation), and shot again.

I really wish I'd of used my big lens for that, as I would have liked to have filled the frame a bit more (the image I posted is cropped a bit). But I didn't know which of the herd would get into a favorable position first, and as luck would have it, it was the one that was further away than the others. No time to get the big lens out, set up the tripod, etc. Just had to get what I could. He only held still there for several seconds, then he turned his head and stepped down off of that raised patch of ground, and there were no more good poses to shoot.

bigjohninva wrote in post #17210195
Great set.

Thank you, John!

Have to like them all but the Bison is my favorite because of the angle, dof, colors and you caught the feeling of the West, btw, Montana is West for me.The Pronghorn is great too, well done. Glad that you shared your settings, honestly with my gear I wouldn't attempt those settings so I find this very interesting to see your results. And I too would like to see more photos from your visit to Montana.

Thanks for the info, Tom; sounds like you're shooting those the same way I go after birds.

Great shots Tom!