Musk oxen

[Nancy Bell]

Photographed in far northern Alaska in September, along the pipeline road near Deadhorse. Light was fading very fast and we were thrilled to finally find some musk oxen. We were told they scatter easily and so we all hid behind the brush and waited with baited breath. I do think these ox paused here as they were suspicious of something (us) ahead. They look so ancient with those long shaggy coats and bearded faces. The gravel here is not the pipeline road, but the remains of an access road probably from building the pipeline.

Canon 1Dx, Canon 200-400 f4 L IS with internal 1.4 @ 560mm, 1/160, f5.6, exp comp +1, ISO 2500, tripod

comments and critiques most appreciated.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Nancy - Nice grouping with the 4 looking in your general direction. The tones make it seem cold already. If it were mine I would consider going even more pano and eliminating a good portion of the oof road in the fg.

TFS,
Rachel

[Marc Mol]

I love the low POV and how you managed to get the attention of all 4 of this herd. The details and lighting all look well managed too Nancy, with Rachel's pano crop suggestion worth a try.

Have never seen these guys in the wild, so just a real bonus for me to see them here!

TFS

[Nancy Bell]

Here is a pano cropping. Thanks, Rachel, for the suggestion. I like it. If I thought about it in the field I would have shifted the entire image so there was more space on the right and less on the left. Field decisions must be made quickly and practice makes perfect !

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Nancy - Pano looks good. I think with 3 of the 4 angled and looking to the left you made the correct call in the field to have more space on the left than the right.. You're right though, with wildlife it can often be a split second decision in the field before the animal moves on or stops looking at you.

Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

Love the soft light and muted tones here, Nancy.
Repost ticks the box for me!

[Andrew Merwin]

I also like the pano crop the best. The light was your friend here. I like that I can see the eyes of all the oxen. Well done.

[Jonathan Ashton]

What a lovely atmospheric image, it looks super in that lowish light and it looks pretty darned cold too! I like both versions and just to be awkward I would try a crop in between and add a little canvas to the right, fill in with Content Aware, and crop a tad off the left.

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Nancy,

the animal on my list for the coming season. The RP does it for me very much as well. The light and all fits, you gave the animals space to breath, thaaaanks

Have a great eve

Ciao
Anette