Bison Herd in Snow Dust, Yellowstone National Park

[Loi Nguyen]

Just came back from a quick get away trip to Yellowstone National Park hoping to see wolves. We did see 10 wolves from 3 different packs, but they were outside of photographic range. The weather was not cooperative except for soem brief moments when the sun came out. The bison mostly stuck their head in the deep snow digging for grass, occasionally moving to find better pasture. This image taken on the Blacktail Plateau where the wind was blowing at 25 - 30 mph creating a storm of flying snow power.

5D3
70-200f2.8 II @ 175mm
1/640
f11
ISO-800

WB for white snow in LR5
Added 30% luminosity mask and contrast in CS6
Cropped slightly top and left.

Thanks for your comments.

Loi

P.S. I was going to post a bison head shot, but will save it for next month theme.

Love the changes from black to white BG on BPN and the monthly theme sounds like fun. But here in Southern California/Los Angeles area, Local Wildlife is hard to come by!

[Don Railton]

Hi Loi,

you have captured the cold bleak conditions nicely, this is a great image..! I like the raised foot of the third Bison and the snow on its face. My only suggestion (and its not that much of the big deal to me anyway...) is to crop out the fence line RHS if your ethics allow... it sort of domesticates the scene a little I think.. I also like the inclusion of the trees in the BG, defines the environment nicely.

DON

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Don, thank you for your comments. I see what you revered as the fence now. There was no fence at Yellowstone actually. The bison can roam free. During the winter in search for food they venture outside the park at lower elevation and unfortunately get shot. The stick on the RHS is (I think) to masher the snow level and is quite annoying I agree. I'm on travel now and I will look at cropping as you suggested. Thank you. Loi

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Loi,
looking very cold …. the place.
I like this Yellowstone winter scene, with the lined up bisons walking through the rough conditions , looking for food.Nice integration of the landscape.
Overall a bit flat , but i think it is difficult to keep the natural flatness of this scene and make it look attractive..?!
I have a crop / comp suggestion as per RP and i pushed the shadow areas a bit, but loosing a bit of the haziness of this snow storm.
WDYT?
TFS Andreas

[Morkel Erasmus]

I just love the feel and your use of space here Loi. I was going to say it needs a hint more contrast on the bison, but then you would lose the "middle-of-the-blizzard" look you achieved.
The fenceline is a pity, though it looks like a partial/old fence?

[Andrew Merwin]

Brrr! You have captured a quintessential winter YNP scene. I can feel the wind & cold as if I am there. The fence looks like a "snow fence." It is temporary & is erected to stop the snow from drifting across the road. I too would remove it. TFS.

[dankearl]

This is really good Loi, really captures the cold feel of Yellowstone.
I like the whole view but think an alternate crop of just the Bison ii the crop allows
would also be pretty nice.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Loi- Nice wintery scene. I have to get to YNP one of these winters. I like the line of bisons and Andreas' crop has gotten rid of the fence and works as an alternate. I think somewhere between your op and Andreas's rp would do it for me, retaining the blustery feel of the op but bringing out a little more detail and depth as Andreas has done.

Don't forget to add your thoughts to other images .

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Loi, there is a lot more detail within the image, I would look to 'double process', in that way you can toggle between the two to get your final result. Overall the image does look 'thin' in depth & tone, but easily rectified, I like the overall comp. In bringing out the detail Rachel has spotted a slight halo around the Bison.

TFS
Steve

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Andreas, thank you for re-working my image. I played with the Leverls to bring the black in, but at the end I left it in the OP because I think it was more faithfully representing the scene with snow dust blowing in almost whiteout conditions at times because of the strong wind. The RP brings more contrast, but looks more static to me. Work is demanding this week, so I will look at tthis image again over the weekend.

I'm Ok with the crop removing a stick to measure the level of snow fall. Again, there is no fence here and the bison move freely inside and outside of the park.

Loi

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Loi,
i am ok with your thoughts, as i was saying by pushing more contrast into the image , i think you will loose the original feel …..
I did not touch the levels, i tweaked the only the shadows with two adjustment layers one set to multiply the other one to screen , blurred the screen layer by 10px.reduced opacity to taste.

Cheers Andreas

[Ashleigh Scully]

Hi Loi,

I just missed you out there. I was near this spot, too last weekend.

I actually like the repost and think maybe some combination of both would be nice. I do like the blizzard feel but it makes everything look a little flat. The repost makes the bison stand out more.

It sure was cold out there last week! Great shot, Ashleigh

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the original post it is very atmospheric, the repost is very eye catching but it does not convey the situation.

[Steve Kaluski]

Again, there is no fence here and the bison move freely inside and outside of the park.

Hi Loi, there maybe no fence to retain the moving herd, but there is one in the BKG which I think Andreas was referring too, but no deal breaker

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Loi,

I like the image as it is. I would not crop out the fence line I would clone or clean it up somehow, for to leave still enough space for the animals to walk to the right. You got good suggestions above already, but I still prefer the OP very much

Have a great week

Ciao
Anette