A successful reintroduction of Elk to the province of Ontario has resulted in some decent photo opportunities not too far from where I live. The habitat is considerably different to what I've been used to seeing elk inhabit in the West.
This bull was photographed this past October during a brief break in steady downpours...I thought the dampness was quite apparent in the image, and I cropped only slightly to show the thick second growth/abandoned farmland.
Canon 40D, Canon 300 4 IS, ISO 1600, 1/500 @ f:4, hand held (from vehicle)
PS CS3 used to remove ear tag and radio collar. 10% crop.
Nice specimen in interesting habitat. I think the fur looks a bit oversharpened and if you removed the jewelry, might as well evict the OOF focus branch in front of the chest. You could crop an inch of the right side for a stronger composition.
Thanks, Fabs...I was thinking about cloning out the weeds stalk, but it hid part of the radio collar and I'm terribly lazy. ;)
I agree with the composition suggestion. Not sure about how over-sharpened the fur is...he was really, really soaked...I've seen elk come out of the river in Yellowstone that weren't as wet as this poor fellow...there was a brief respite in the downpours and the sun tried to peak out, resulting in some nice highlights on the rain slicked fur that are far more apparent in the original....
Thanks again for the advice!