Coyote Pair, Yellowstone

[Loi Nguyen]

Image taken last week in Yellowstone. This pair had just fed from a wolf-killed carcass and left the scene. I stopped the car on the road and took this image when they came to greet one another.

We often wonder why the coyotes in Yellowstone look so healthy and thought they had a little help from the wolves. But the day after we left, we heard that this pair successfully took down a big horn sheep in the same location.

1DX
500f4 II + 1.4X III = 700mm
1/2000
f5.6
ISO-1600
Handheld

I realized that I should have shot this at F8 for more DOF.
WB adjusted for the white snow
Cloned out distracting grass and rocks protruding from the snow.
Cropped top, left and a little from bottom.

Thank you for your comments.

Loi

[Morkel Erasmus]

I like how they're offset against the snow. I wish there was more head-turn from the RHS one and that the LHS one was looking up a bit (to get his head out of the shrubs).
RHS one seems sharper, did you get any where you stopped down to f8 perhaps?

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Loi - they do look healthy and I like the impending interaction. I agree with Morkel's point about the heads. If it were mine I would clean up the edges that look a little smudgy, particularly the top and right.

TFS,
Rachel

[Jamie Douglas]

Hello Loi, I kind of like the head angles as they are. You captured a sense of the dominance and wariness that occurs during interactions leaving the right amount to the imagination of the viewer - in my opinion anyway.

As for the techs. I would have expected the image to be sharper and might have been a result of handholding with the convertor in place. As much as the improved weight of the new 500 tempts me to handhold it, I rarely if ever come away satisfied with the results when I handhold with the 1.4x attached even at high shutter speeds. I usually forget to really press the body into my face and need to work on a better grip due to the large focus ring where my hand keeps wanting to hold it.

I went through this last Friday when I kept hearing a voice of experience tell me to pick up my tripod :)

Cheers

Jamie

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Loi, perhaps easier said than done, but moving so you had the two more parallel to you would have been better, but without knowing the limitations I can only guess, but I don't feel they would have mind you moving if possible. There is more detail within the FG, albeit subtle, but it does make a difference. When you do bring out the detail, more 'stuff' becomes visible which is not good, so masking is the answer. I would also look to adding a bit more tonal depth within the subject to, the images just a little light/thin. Going to around f/8 would have also helped as you had the SS. I would look to using a beanbag and avoid HH, it's easier and more comfortable.

I went through this last Friday when I kept hearing a voice of experience tell me to pick up my tripod

And did you listen?

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Jamie and Steve, bean bag would be hood, but I didn't have the bean bag with me on this trip, too much to carry on a regional airline plus the cold weather gear. I had the tripod in the back of the car, but getting to it means I would have misses the shot. I. Don't think handheld by itself is a problem as I have taken plenty of sharp images with or without the converters. But we all make mistakes and it was very possible that while busy adjusting the exposure from the previous shots, I didn't do a good job with handholding.

Steve, you are right about the tonal depth. The light was pretty flat, cloudy, snowy sky. I increased the black by +8 I think in CS6. As for sharpness, I only sharpened with 80/0.3/0 as I thought the coyotes look a bit crunchy. Certainly I could sharpen more.

thank you for your suggestion.

loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Loi, I don't think adding more black is the answer, it's more mid tone. My main concern thought is the 'elements' in the BKG and around the subjects, only visible when you begin to juggle with a few adjustments. Was there anything in the BKG that you can remember or have lost? Just curious what is causing it.

[Loi Nguyen]

Steve, the BG is a mess with black rocks poking out and unsightly grass as the BG is actually a steep hill side. So I deliberately cloned them out and made the BG just a clean white BG with no features. The FG had deep snow and only oe or two distracting grass, so I left the FG with some features on the snow

loi

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Loi,

I like the setting in this image. I might would clone out the little grass stick from the left head, but nothing major. I heard the voice for tripod, for the car there are beanbags and faster than a tripod to install on a window. I mainly work with beanbag for Wildlife, for me it gives me more freedom. In Svalbard I used my camera bag as tripod on land for animals. lololol, the big heavy tripod carriers were shaking there heads, but I was the lowest outside the line of all and the dirtiest, again

Have a great week

Ciao
Anette

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Loi,
i like the look of the one to the other , looks like he is checking him/her out.
I would go for a pano crop here and loose some of the FG.
Good advice by the contrast Master, which i would like to echo at 100 %.
I think the image could stand a tad more sharpening in the subjects.

TFS Andreas

[Nancy Bell]

I like the composition of this with the coyotes on the single line of vegetation and the remainder all white. But like Rachel, I noticed many smudges around the edges. You captured the tension of the greeting and a very submission look on the left animal with the low head position and eye looking up.