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View Full Version : The ravens and the wild wolf



Steve Foss
01-09-2008, 04:43 PM
This was shot not far from a road-killed deer. I dragged the deer from the road onto a bog lake and set up about 50 yards away, shooting from cover.

Funny about ravens and wolves. This wolf ate all he wanted and headed out. Rather than take over the carcass with all that fresh meat, these three ravens made a beeline for the poop as soon as the wolf was done defecating.

Watching the way wolves and ravens interact around the dinner bell is at least as rewarding as getting a few images like this.

This is an extreme crop at long range. Possible only because of the sharpness and resolution of the lens. About 80 percent has been cropped away, yet I've been able to get a nice sharp 8x10 print out of this. Neither the 400 f2.8L IS, the 500 f4L IS or the 600 f4L IS have produced images as sharp for me as this 400 f2.8L Mk2 Non IS.

1D2n, 400 f2.8L Non IS, 1.4 TC, iso200, 1/1000 at f8, tripod

Jasper Doest
01-10-2008, 04:29 AM
Intersting image you've created here...there seems to be a lot going on here....

What I like best is that all the elements have absolutely no interaction with eachother....and that really creates a strange but interesting atmosphere. I somehow like it....

D. Robert Franz
01-10-2008, 09:08 AM
I'll be photographing wolves in snow very soon in Yellowstone. I like the image but would prefer the wolf further left in the frame with more of the frame for the wolf to look into... The ravens add interest. Researchers in Yellowstone have shown that ravens will cooperatively hunt with wolves.

Steve Foss
01-10-2008, 10:47 AM
Jasper, I think you're right. The wolf's studied indifference to the ravens helps make this interesting.

Robert, thanks for the suggestion. There is a huge foreground tree to the right in the original image, but I'll add an inch of canvas to the right and clone in more snow/grass and see how that works for me. I've read about wolves and ravens hunting cooperatively, and have talked to a couple people who have witnessed that. Good luck at Yellowstone.

Robert Smith
01-10-2008, 03:35 PM
Neat image, and thank you for the great introductory description as well. You managed to catch 3 of the 4 critters in the frame parallel to the sensor plane - a feat in itself!

For me this is a great biological interest image with the most important action being the raven eating the feces (which you caught JUST right), but without the wolf in the picture, that action loses its importance. The inter-species food-chain interaction here is great with the actual physical interaction being minimal is pretty cool

I think Robert's suggestion of more room to the right is a good one.

Congratulations on a neat image!

Steve Foss
01-10-2008, 06:28 PM
Thanks, Robert. Agreed on all points.

I can't take credit for all those critters fairly well in focus, however. If this was full frame or nearly so, either the ravens would be somewhat in focus or the wolf would have been. Because it was at such an extreme distance, the f8 DOF was subsequently much deeper. In retrospect I think I got lucky, because with that lens and this crop I was better off far away than I would have been close up. I like it that pretty much all four subjects are in focus, but it was luck, not intent, that swung it that way. Even close up at, say f14, I doubt I'd have that much apparent DOF.

Anyway, as often as I look again at this image it always makes me chuckle. Bathroom humor has its place. I have another one of the wolf actually doing his business while the ravens are patiently waiting for him to finish, and yet another one of the wolf looking back at the ravens as they take care of his business. Just too funny. It was all I could do to trip the shutter instead of laugh. :D