Wild and Free Photo

Photographer’s Note

Pronghorn Antelope. The second fastest land animal in the world after the Cheetah.

I ran into this handsome devil on my way back from hike out to Lost Lake in Yellowstone National Park. I decided to take a short cut over a hilltop. When I got to the top of the hill he was just sitting majestically in this golden field. The light was particularly good because there was a forest fire and the smoke caused the sunlight to appear warmer than usual.

Note on photographing wildlife:
It may appear that I was close to this animal but I was not. I used a 300mm lens and I cropped the photo by about 50%. If you want to photograph wildlife please be respectful, and don't try to get too close.

ayvaz13, leo61, crhieatt, Philippe, Floydian, rigoletto, scobert, Dpbours, feather, chpp, edytungkal, pboehringer, jwmunro, mariandrea, Charo, Vicky, patdeph, zmey has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

leo61 (43282) 2008-04-04 12:38

Hi Ryan!
I Did not know that there are living antilopes in the US.
Great shot of this wild animal and I love it`s relaxed pose.A very good exposure ,done with your 300mm lens and amazing sharpness.I like too the yellow/golden grass and tones getting more blureed in the background.
Have a nice weekend,
regards,Leo

crhieatt (5143) 2008-04-04 12:44

Ryan,
Superb shot, with fantastic detail and colour. Great work - and a fine specimen!
Regards
Colin

rgarrigus (0) 2008-04-04 12:58

Hi Ryan,

Great capture full stop! I love the shallow depth of field, the dappled light and the blurred patches of brownish red grasses in the background.

Cheers!

Bob G.

[2]

Merline (6574) 2008-04-04 13:08

Ryan,
She's a beauty...and how well the soft tones of the grass suit her:-)
Lucky you! Excuisite work, lovely light and bokeh and I like your note too...!

TFS
Best regards
Michèle

toni_al (15430) 2008-04-04 14:16

Salut Ryan
Une superbe image avec une enorme qualite. En plus la construction crée une diagonale qui aide a la lecture de l'image.
Superbe
Toni

danyy (68572) 2008-04-04 14:53

Bonjour Ryan,
une photo bien réussie, faite au 300mm, cela veut die que tu n'étais pas si loin que cela. Excellente profondeur de champ qui donne pas mal de relief à l'animal sur lequel le focus est précis.
Les couleurs sont très naturelles.
Best regards.
Daniel.

Floydian (30970) 2008-04-04 14:53

Hi Ryan,
No action her, but that you caught it like this is also very rewarding. Photographing wildlife in Yellowstone seems easy, but it isn't i found out myself a very long time ago ;-)
The color setting and the contrasting colors from the skin are wonderful, you really know how to deal with colors. Great pose of the animal in his natural surrounding, perfect..!!!
Have a nice weekend, Henk

[2]

azleader (6) 2008-04-04 15:06

A pleasant surprise to see such a well processed image of this animal. The focus and DOF are just right for the composition. The warm tones make the image special. Great photographer's note to.

Kudos to you!

rigoletto (26172) 2008-04-04 15:14

Hi Ryan,
Warm fire colors and the antelope colors well mix together to make an orange feast tonight (it is night here). Excellent focus on the animal and beautiful bokeh with the grass. Your postprocessing is also something admirable, great quality besides 50% crop.
And thanks for the insighful lines about wild life photography.
Cheers,
Deniz

scobert (5333) 2008-04-04 15:23

Hello Ryan,
A beautiful portrait type of shot of this pronghorn. The lighting, composition, colors and sharpness are all wonderful! These pronghorn antelope can run forever, unlike the cheetah who tire after about a half mile. I have this Sigma lens and I use it for indoor dance and theater and I always wondered if it would be a good wildlife lens, and you proved to me that it works great (you are a fantastic photographer and I will give you most of the credit). I think that this lens has never gotten the credit that it deserves. Your photo gallery is outstanding!
Stan

[2] +

lindamc18 (297) 2008-04-04 16:02

hi ryan
beautiful capture, great colors and wonderful sharpness.very nice composition!

gneufeld (15167) 2008-04-04 18:33

Hi Ryan,
I like this shot alot - grew up on the prairies of Canada where the pronhorns roamed free. Your capture provides a perfect profile view in excellent light, colors, and sharpness. Great work and TFS. Gerald

Philippe (11771) 2008-04-05 0:31

Hi, Ryan. A very crisp picture with a nice unity of tones between the antelope's coat and the grass in the background. Very good light and a posture that's not so usual.

Cormac (26449) 2008-04-05 7:55

Absolutely fantastic shot Ryan! The lighting is good, with the golden field providing a great background for the animal. This is so clear and sharp it's like being there. Amazing work!

delkoo (34220) 2008-04-05 8:59

hi ryan,

The colour and clarity is very good, allowing us to see everything so clearly that it's almost like being there.
great one
didier

Dpbours (218) 2008-04-05 10:07

Hi Ryan,

More TrekNature material perhaps, but looking at the quality of the photograph and the good note, it also has a place here on TrekEarth.

Good note on photographing wildlife. I use a 400mm and often have to crop quite a bit, but you need to if you don't want to turn wildlife into tame animals.
Here in the Netherlands, wildlife 'photographers' were feeding the foxes and in the end they had to shoot the foxes down, since they became too tame and would bite little children if they did not get food...

Greetings! Dennis

Wandering_Dan (3211) 2008-04-05 19:06

Hello, Ryan -

Those horns look surreal!

Nicely positioned composition so that he fills the image without overwhelming it. Good light control, too.

Regards,
Dan

feather (49858) 2008-04-06 6:02

Wonderful image of the antelope in gorgeous light. Sensitively cropped with enough space around him. Good choice of DOF as the background is perfectly blurred. Well done
Kath

[2]

chpp (3966) 2008-04-07 6:36

Hi Ryan
this is really a great shot, the animal is in perfect focus, surrounded by golden light and grass. The light is great and enhances the colour of this beuatiful antelope
very nice work
cheers
C

Karmenu (1384) 2008-04-07 13:44

Hi Ryan
thanks for your visit and congratulations for your gallery.
Nice to see this one in particular.
My compliments
Charles

danielswalsh (13312) 2008-04-07 18:12

Hey Ryan;

Sorry for the long delay since I last visited your gallery- I've been kind of selfish lately on TE, spending barely enough time to post and not really critiquing much.
The Sigma lens has really come through in providing some beautiful detail in the face- great texture in the coat. Although the image looks like it could have been overly contrasty- I think you've done a great job in controlling that and capturing a VERY well balanced shot. Just read the note and I agree- the smoke really helped to warm it up as well as probably difusing some of the harsh light?

The bokeh looks superb... like the lens (I have the Sigma 170-500mm)?

Cheers,
- Dan

Waylim (10741) 2008-04-07 20:59

Ryan,
Wow, Really great close up shot of this beautiful antelope. Great sharpness and clarity considering that you crop about 50% and from such a long lens. I guess having a tripod help greatly. Often time wildlife shot is sometime happen so fast, one doesn't have enough time to prepare. Wonderful warm golden light, a unfortunate good side effect of the fire. Composition is great with enough space on the right.
Very good advise for us photographer of being respectful to the models, wildlife, or people for that matter. I see so many tourists on a photographing frenzy without any consideration to the people sometimes. Thanks.
Way

edytungkal (4519) 2008-04-09 19:38

This shot got my attention since saw it on thumbnails and for true its really a perfect animal picture and one of the best i ever seen. That golden bg framed it perfect...
Best quality with amazing sharpness and good colours. Congrat for this shot Ryan, tfs

ps: never know before if Pronghorn Antelope is the second fastest land animal the cheetah, thanks for telling us.

daniel

pboehringer (770) 2008-04-10 7:43

Ryan,
yes you respected this antelope, otherwise it wold have gotten up and even before considering releasing your shutter it would have been gone. Truly wonderful and the light that you got submerges this shot into a golden ecstasy. The blurr in front and behind the animal gives that inlocked sharpness impression as if we are standing inches of the antelope.
Peter

[2]

jwmunro (6571) 2008-04-10 9:11

Hello Ryan -

Well done! This is an excellent portrait of one of the most skittish animals in North America. I really like the warm light as it accents the natural fur of the animal and it's surrounding.

Thank you for sharing.

John

cdmonson (2751) 2008-04-10 16:30

Hi Ryan:

Love this one. I've never been able to come across a pronghorn that wasn't grazing or running, so I'm jealous that you were able to catch this guy lying down. Such a great relaxed pose.

Clark

zeca (20026) 2008-04-11 13:53

Its a kind of life I like to see! Well captured, Ryan! The golden light around the Antelope enhance its figure a lot. Excellent catch!
Regards,
Zeca

mariandrea (973) 2008-04-11 23:12

Hi Ryan, really beautiful... Smooth light, same colour of animal and background, the expression of the eyes, good sharpness, very well done, congrats! chau chau,

Maria

veronika (6022) 2008-04-12 8:13

Hi Ryan,
this is wonderful animal portrait, with great warm light and yes, he looks very majestically.
Perfect one :)
Veronika

Charo (31665) 2008-04-14 4:29

Hola Ryan,
Bellísima toma de este animal que parece mirarte de frente. Excelentes colores y detalles. Bien hecho.
Cordialmente
Charo

patdeph (17722) 2008-05-07 7:48

hello Ryan
what I like in this photo,is the light playing in the grasses in the blurred backgroung!There is a great harmony of colours with the antelope,and the contrast of golden tones with the white hairs and black horn is superb!
regards.
Pascale

mbasil (2117) 2008-05-15 9:21

Wow, dramatic lighting and a perfect composition. The colors are really great, too.
Mike

PeterDF (292) 2008-08-02 17:50

Beautiful, beautiful shot of this very magnificent pronghorn...really very lovely light and setting.

zmey (7244) 2008-09-05 6:20

wow, ryan... you managed to set up your tripod and get this PERFECT(!) shot of the second fastes land animal... i am truly impressed... we saw proghorns several times while crossing lamar valley but on no occasion they were still for more than a few seconds or in such amazing light. anyway, my point here: an amazing shot!

my compliments
kristaps

guitianmiranda (3600) 2009-10-27 15:21

I found one too at Custer state Park.

Really nice colours and definition for this Pronghorn at rest.

best regards.