Grey wolf

[Kalin Botev]

Hey everyone,
I’m sorry for not being able to participate much in the forum lately. It seems like work never ends but I think it makes me appreciate the moment out in the open a lot more.
I managed to escape for a while and was fortunate enough to meet this fine lady. Spending several days and nights alone in the woods was totally worth it. Wolves here in Bulgaria are very shy due to constant hunting and up until this time I have just managed to get a glimpse of them in the dark early mornings when taking pictures was virtually impossible.
Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome and appreciated.
Kalin

Nikon D3
Nikon 300mm f/2.8 + 1.7 TC
F/5, 1/320s, ISO 2200

[haseeb badar]

Hi Kalin -- Great to see you posting again and what better than the Wolf to start of . I liked the Blue Backdrop gives the wolf a nice separation . Light also looks good and so are the colours . The settings are very nice i must say and your subject is sharp inspite of that slow ss.
Was the wolf walking on a downward path or is there a need for a slight CW rotation ?
Seems like she must be having pups .

A nice image Kalin and TFS !

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely natural looking image. I genuinely envy you being able to get so close to a wild wolf, there is something about them that just makes me think they are magnificent, intelligent animals.
The details and exposure looks great, I cannot comment on colour just yet as my screen is currently non calibrated.

[Glennie Passier]

Kalin, You have captured a very beautiful image. I can't believe these animals are still being hunted. The wolf looks clever and alert. It looks like she is travelling along a ridge. The grasses in front of her are very nice.

I like the blue hills in the BG, but wonder if there could be a slight blue cast.

[Kalin Botev]

Thank you all for the feedback!
Haseeb, the wolf was coming down a slope. That's why she looks a bit tilted to one side.
Glennie and Jonathan, I can't comment on the colors. My display haven't been calibrated for quite some time. The blue cast might be coming as a reflection from the hills around the spot. It was early in the morning, too.
K

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Kalin

Love the alert pose, it is encouraging to see she is lactating, means that pups are around!
Agree with slight blue cast, just do sat layer.
Find that the rocks in FG draw my eyes away from subject- can't crop them out due to virtual feet- may a slight crop from bottom and lighten them to make less obvious?
Love the BG, but bit too much blues, sat layer will deal with that.
Nice capture!

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Kalin - What a great encounter you had with the wolf. Agree about the great bg and it's also good that the head is clear. Also agree about the blues but an easy fix if so inclined. Just curious if this is ff or a crop?

I know you haven't had a lot of time but it would still be great to have your thoughts on other people's wildlife images.

TFS,
Rachel

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Kalin!

Welcome back, glad to see you back and posting!

This is such a special encounter and it reminds me of a few unique sightings during my childhood in Romania. I was still at school then and lucky to be chosen - among my schoolmates - to go camping with a team of archaeologists, this was supposed to be a "career orientation trip". Everyone busy looking for artefacts and I was supposed to participate in the digging and cleaning of those ancient pottery bits. Instead I became obsessed with the wolves and even woke up in the middle of the night to go out and watch them. A fiasco really from the "orientation" POV but to me an unforgettable experience:)

Wonderful capture, Kalin. I love the blue sky and especially that attentive stare from the subject! It is a pity you could only get 1/320s, I would have gone for a lower F-stop to get more SS I think, but the sighting might have been brief and you have done very well under the circumstances. Given the lack of evident noise, maybe you should consider pushing your camera a bit in the future, see if it can handle higher SS, just a thought?

I am loving this! She is indeed a fine lady and has pups somewhere waiting for her, she is in a hurry to get home and offer them nourishment. Here's my humble attempt to bring a bit more life into this already stunning wolf girl, levels in PSCC and played with exposure here and there, did not sharpen at all, let me know if this works for you?
I really enjoyed viewing, thank you so much for sharing - this brought back lovely memories:cheers:

Kind regards,

[Arthur Morris]

Welcome back to you and the wolf! Excellent comments above. a

[Arthur Morris]

ps: Gabriela's repost does give it some more pop! a

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hey Kalin - this is a cracking image to "get back on the bike" with. Love the hues, the diagonal angle (so I'm fine with the rotation given she was descending) and the intent look in her eyes.
Gabriela's repost takes it where it needs to be.
Why are they so persecuted? I would have thought that sentiment towards the last remaining wolves in Eastern Europe would have swayed by this time?

[Nancy Bell]

Awesome experience! After 11 comments I have nothing different to add except my admiration for your dedication to obtain this image! Love that she apparently has pups that she is feeding. People in the US either love wolves in nature or they think all wolves should be shot on sight. Always a political hot potato here. I totally don't understand the shoot them group. PS. These are my polite comments on the situation here.

[Kalin Botev]

Thanks everyone for the great comments and tips! All are much appreciated!
Rachel, yes, this is the FF. I’ll try to play a bit with cropping, to see if it will make it better.
Lovely story Gabriela! I think this was the right “orientation” for you. Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about what should I do to be able to go out and shoot more. I guess it is time to switch jobs and priorities. I wish I had your kind of orientation here in Bulgaria.
I like the way you processed the image. I think my background made the image look blue. Actually it is not the sky but a hill which is far behind the scene.
I wish I had thought about SS but I was so excited that I almost stopped thinking. I could have had a higher ISO, may be 3600. It is the limit, though. I still have noise in the picture, I just reduced in pp and resizing for the web also made it less visible.
Morkel and Nancy, thanks for your comments. The reasons wolves are hunted here are mainly two – farmers don’t like them because sometimes they attack cattle. The state compensates them for the attacks but they still shoot them. The second reason is hunters, especially older generation – they still believe wolves are bad and should be exterminated, foxes and jackals are also treated this way. And wolves are smart and very hard to hunt so they are considered a big trophy.
Thanks again every one, I’ll do my best to be more active and share my thoughts on other images, too.
Kalin

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Kalin,

great moment of this solve in Bulgaria. I am after some here in Europe as well. Since in some countries they are hunted, yep still happens they all come to western part. Germany has by now huge packs up to 50 animals in one pack. Sadly very hard to track them. They cover up to 50-70km in one night! Pffff

However, lots has been said already in all comments. Gabriela made a great RP of this image.

Hope to see more of these animals from you. :S3:

Have a great day

Ciao Anette

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Kalin,

Thank you so much for your reply! Mmm...not sure about "switching jobs", but another look at priorities sounds great, how about spending more weekends in the wilderness and experimenting? The thing is, as soon as photography becomes more than a hobby it takes over your life - so you and your family must be prepared for that:) The wildlife is there, I guess you must have some lovely bears in Bulgaria, I have been thinking about a trip to Romania to shoot bears and wolves but the thought of travelling with so much equipment is a bit of a put-off so I stick with the big cats for now.

Regarding PP work and posting, I had one bit of advice from Mr. Kaluski sometime in 2011, which I shall never forget, I do try stick to it and I would like to share it with you tonight: try not to post something straight away after PP work. Be patient. Often one is unable to see things when staring at the same image on the computer screen for too long, so leave it to "rest" overnight and then have a fresh look the next morning: you will be able to recognise colour casts and check on the sharpening, etc...

I do identify with you when you speak about the excitement you had at this sighting, for I too used to forget to change settings:) The more you go out there and shoot the easier it gets, even looking at the histogram becomes second nature. If you are worried about the noise then just take enough frames (at various settings) to see how far you can go and how you can deal with it.

I so look forward to more from you Kalin! I am excited and happy to see you back here in BPN Wildlife - have you more images to share?

Warmest regards,

[Kalin Botev]

Hi Anette and Gabriela,
Thanks a lot for your tips and advices!

Dear Anette, if you happen to come to Bulgaria in your search for wolves, just let me know. I’ll be more than happy to help you with logistics and locations.

Dear Gabriela, thank you so much for your help. The advice of Mr. Kaluski is of a real value. I never thought about this before. I have some more pictures of this wolf but I’ll be patient with post processing and showing .
Yes, there are lots of bears in Bulgaria, although I had a glimpse of a bear just once. They are as shy as the wolves and the reason is the same. I see lots of tracks, though.
I do try to spend all my weekends out in the open but very often the weekend is over just when things start to happen .
Cheers,
Kalin

[Loi Nguyen]

Great image, envious of you being that close to a wolf. Gabriela's RP gives the much needed punch to the image. Loi