Elk Portrait

From earlier today, about a mile from where I live.

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Nice portrait GJim

Nice One! Ron

He looks pretty content. Elk season must be over in Wyoming. Nice pic.

Thanks for the nice comments.

Terry, there are still elk-hunting seasons open, in Wyoming - but, this fellow is safe, he's on the feeding-grounds just south of Alpine.

Out of curiousity, what was in the background. Your shot is very clear and sharp and the elk looks awesome but not sure if I am liking the white background. Also, there appears to be some background left around the rump on the right side. I would like to see this shot with the back ground heavily blurred. It appears you were quite close to him. Great exposure.

Res:

For the most part, the background is 'as-shot' - lots of snow! He was in a herd with a lot of other elk and I did some cloning work to make him stand out all alone. The heaviest cloning would have been done in the area that you mention. I'm still rather a newbie when it comes to major photo-editing - using GIMP, and the cloning-out needs a bit more work. Back in the 35mm days, I would just have cropped tightly for any prints that I had made from this shot. For the portrait, I also cloned-out the tag that is in his ear.

He is on the Wyoming Game/Fish feed-grounds about a mile south of where I live. I was probably 60-75 yards from him when I got that shot. Canon 50D, Sigma 150-500mm.

The elk will be on the feed-grounds well into April of next year, so I should have ample opportunities for more shots. Probably not today, though - we have heavy overcast skies, with more snow predicted. Lighting conditions were really nice yesterday, for the time-period when I was shooting these.

Here is the original shot, SOOC - only PP is converted to jpg and re-sized for forum (and my signature).

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I like the second one (original) best.

I also like the second shot,although I would clone out the elk just to the left of your subject.

Armando

The second shot is much better. The blurred elk in the back ground IMO add to the composition of the shot. I just fiddled around with it in a cheap program. I agree with the other poster about getting the elk rump on the left out of the picture. Not a great edit and there are many here who could do a lot better but it gives you an idea. Very nice shot. Thanks for posting the original.

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I'll second the #2 image .