Elk in Yellowstone

All of these pictures where taken handheld, 400 ISO or 1600 ISO at 300mm with tamron lens. I didn't have time to set up a tripod, these guys were leaving pretty quickly.

Feel free to C&C


#1

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

I think the focus could be better, but certainly love the shots!

Wow - that bull in #2 and #3 is a good one! Were you able to spend much time with that bull, and watch him for a good half hour or more, or did you have to just "shoot & run"? It seems that if you had some time to spend there waiting for him to work his way closer you may have been able to get some frame-fillers.
In what part of the park was the 2nd bull?
Did you see any other bull elk that had antlers as large as his?
I plan to go there soon to photograph the elk, and would appreciate any info you could share.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #8589340
In what part of the park was the 2nd bull?
Did you see any other bull elk that had antlers as large as his?
I plan to go there soon to photograph the elk, and would appreciate any info you could share.

Thanks for the comments.

Be aware that they shut down part of the Yellowstone loop. So if you come in through the west entrance, you can't go north, you have to go south, to the lake, and up to the falls about a 2.5 hour trip instead of 30 minutes. The northern part of the loop (usually the best strip of road to see wildlife) is completely shut down so it really slowed the trip down.

These were the only bull elk we saw. We saw several female but these were the only males. Both Elk were about 10-15 miles into the park on the west side, I saw both of them no more than 2 miles from each other. I wasn't able to watch them for two reasons...crying kids in the car and they were walking away from me.

As far as the focus goes, I have noticed my lens does not do a great job at 300mm, if I go to live view and manually focus I can do a much sharper job. But given the situation, I didn't have much time to fiddle.

We were just in Yellowstone last week. Here's the best shot of an elk I got, which was late in the afternoon. Canon 70-300, ISO 400, hand held, 225mm, cropped.

I shot this within the first hour we arrived at the park, and never got a better one than this during the next 3 days we were there. Sometimes you just get lucky!

sometimes it is just being in the right place at the right time...

ok and some skill, and equipment doesnt hurt

David, that sure is one heck of an elk image!

Wow!

The photos and bulls are nice.

Very nice images!!

Man..... that bull in #2 & #3 is a monster!!! i'm just guessing around 325 - 375 inches of antler on that beast and great symmetry!!

David, nice shot. Based on the burnt tree's in the background it looks like you caught him on the west side as well. I wish I could have dropped my ISO down so I could get a crisper shot, but you take what you can get with nature. Your bull looks like it's been stealing some Twinkies from the campers. But great shot.

Good eye - we entered from West Yellowstone. Being the expert wildlife observer, I knew exactly how to spot elk: look for a crowd of parked cars. He was only 50-75 feet off the road. I waited for him to walk into a clearing, but it really was just right place / right time.

I've never been much into wildlife photography, but after spending 2 weeks in Yellowstone and Teton/Jackson, I found myself really enjoying it. I'm also finding that my Canon 70-300 isn't too sharp near its max zoom, so now I'm trying to decide between the Canon 100-400 and Sigma 150-500...time to start reading...

David - nice shot.

If you want an upgrade in sharpness, go for the 300 F4 IS. Your 70-300 IS is actually rated sharper than the 100-400 at Photozone. I had to make that move( Iowned 70-300IS) as the 100-400 was just no sharp enough at 400. My 300 F4 IS is razor sharp at 300 and still excellent at 420 with a Canon TC. If you want see a noticeable improvement, that's the way to go.

Shlurpee - nice job on the elk there.

This is one from two years ago near Mammoth. I think it is #10 one of the sparing partners of infamous and notorious #6, RIP.