King of the Mountain

[Nancy Bell]

I visited the Mountain Goats of Mount Evans, Colorado earlier this week. On my first day I had about 45 minutes of ground-hugging clouds moving in, like fog, and then heavy hail and rain, that forced me down the mountain. I liked the way the fog muted the bkgd. The fog varied from thick to thin and I stayed with the goats as long as I dared, photographing the varying conditions. For this image, the fog was thin enough for a clear image of the goat, but not the bkgd.

Mount Evans is 14,264 ft (4328 m) at the top and the highest paved road in the US makes getting there wonderfully convenient. The hard part is breathing at that altitude!

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 70-200 f2.8 L IS @ 95mm, 1/2500, f8, ISO 800, resting on a rock (the camera, and me!)

C & C most appreciated.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Nancy - what a great moody image. F8 was a great choice and the pov and comp both work very well. I think you can still get a bit more detail out of it. I did a levels mask adjustment just to the goat bringing in the right hand slider to 1.42 and moving the middle slider slightly to the left to give the midtones a bit more punch at .93. Finally, I applied a 45% screen adjustment to the eye. If you decide to go back to the image I might consider backing off the sharpening of the fg rocks just slightly. Also watch the horns as there is a very slight halo. These are all minor things that can be easily tweaked.

TFS,
Rachel

[jack williamson]

This is really excellent, you must have been very close for 95mm. I thought the OP was great but Rachel's tweaks have really helped. Well done.

Jack

[Loi Nguyen]

This is a very nice image and Rachel took it up a notch. I like the brighter white and more lively eye in Rachel's RP. Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Well Nancy, not much more to say, as I think Rachel has covered a lot of what I would have suggested, although if the adjustments were in Levels I think she meant 244, not 1.42? If you do then I might mask the slightly brighter areas to retain the subtle tone in them. Obviously your position was perhaps less than idea to shoot from and safety comes first, but I wonder if there was a chance in moving slightly more to the left might have removed the small vertical rock on the RHS? Not a deal breaker just a thought. Your PP is certainly coming along nicely too, a lovely image, but the mist as you say, really adds to the scene and conveys the mountain look & feel.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Of course Steve is correct, 242.

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you all. Rachel, I see the subtle pop from your adjustments and will do likewise. And Steve, that is a good idea to mask the brightest parts to keep them from losing detail. I am bummed about that OOF front rock on the right side. The boulders here were a huge jumble and very difficult to scramble through. I don't remember if I could have moved left.
Jack, these mountain goats are habituated to people and if you move slowly & sit quietly they can be very tolerant.

[Steve Kaluski]

am bummed about that OOF front rock on the right side.

Hi Nancy, as I said, it's not a deal breaker, however it might be something that you pick up on next time you visit and lookout for.

[Girish Prahalad]

lovely portrait! exp & details are excellent. the environment adds a lot the image.

[vishaljadhav]

Wow thats close and beautiful
i love the details

[Gabriela Plesea]

Beautiful image Nancy! Love the detail, the colours are fantastic!

Kind regards,

[Andre Pretorius]

Nice detail on darks and whites, DOF effective with BG. The fog really added a bit of mystique to image. Agree with the rock in RHC, but we can't have it all

[Anette Mossbacher]

Very nice image Nancy, great details. Love the moody in this

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you, everyone! The mountain goats are great fun to photograph.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Nancy ,
great one with nice PP work.
Like the dull colors and and the lovely detail you worked out of the image.
Comp works fine for me as presented, would not change anything.

are they all the time that relaxed in that place ? If so you are lucky i think.

TFS Andreas

[Nancy Bell]

Andreas, yes, they are always relaxed with people here. They even bring their babies. I am lucky to have these animals live only 3 hours away from me. I wrote an article about this place and the mt. goats for Denise Ippolito's August edition of her mini-mag. You might want to see it when she puts it online, generally the first of the month.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks for the info , much appreciated

Andreas