" Last of His Tribe"

[James Parker]

This is a 2 1/4 Neg scanned
I cropped this shot in a panorama format as with the wide angle lens(the lens I had on when I pulled over abruptly to get this picture) allowed too much area around the subject.

Hasselblad 503CX
1/125s
F/ 5.6
160 ISO
40mm Lens
Resting on fence post

[Michel Pilon]

Good and dramatic picture James of this lonely buffalo (last of his tribe as you mentionned) .

Excellent composition with well-balanced elements (clouds, sky, hills and plain...). The silhouette is well recognizable and we can imagine thousands of buffalos on this great plains years ago... I hope that it is not the last one over this area...

Cheers!

Michel

[Julie Kenward]

What a great scene you caught and I love that you converted it to pano! It feels very dark to me - I like that about it - but wouldn't mind seeing a little bit more detail in some of the darker areas. That might ruin the mood, though...so take that with a grain of salt.

[Robert Amoruso]

James,

Very powerful image. Good rule of thirds placement. If you crop a bit more off the right that will put the bison right at a power point. I tried it and feel it strengthens the composition. I also tried a more extreme pano cropping more off top and bottom and like that too. Not necessarily better then your presentation, just something to investigate.

Nice work.

[Robert Amoruso]

I didn't mention the darkess of the image but want to after Julie's comment. I would generally be inclined to say brighten it up some but as she notes, mood is part of the strength of the image and feel it is good as presented. But she is right, why not try it. One thing I have done more recently is create alternate versions of images for evaluation.

[Arthur Morris]

I am with Robert on this one but as I like the hills on the right I would love to see another panel on the left. Overall very powerful.

[David Kennedy]

I wonder if black and white wouldn't better serve an image like this? It's fairly grainy, and there isn't a tremendous amount of color detail--only tonal gradations--so it might work better. (I'm also sensing a color cast, so going to B&W would eliminate that altogether.) I do like the feeling of this image and the title is apt; the genetic diversity among American bison is so paltry and pitiful (due to over-hunting in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries) that they do feel like lonely creatures, and your image is duly haunting.

[Harold Stiver]

A good decision to compose this as a pano, it emphasizes the horizontal of the plains and gives more drama to it.

I like the dark light level as well. Well done.

[Noel Carboni]

What a lonely, dramatically lit shot. It says, "gone are the bright days; dark times are upon us".

If only those of yesteryear could have chosen to "shoot" the buffalo this way instead of with guns.

-Noel

[Gus Cobos]

A very powerfull image and capture. I like the lighting as is...It tells the story of days gone buy...:( My recommendation would be to crop just a tad from the bottom...:cool: