Bull Bison

[John Storjohann]

This image was taken a few years back at Lone Elk Park, a St. Louis City park that maintains a small herd of elk and bison. It was early winter, after a fresh snow, and just after sunrise. Topaz Simplify->BuzzSim, followed by Topaz Detail->Micro Enhancement, and then finished off with NIK Glamour Glow. All on different layers...played with the layer opacity a bit to bring back some detail. This is the full frame...intentionally cropped very tight when I was shooting to heighten the sense of drama as the bull laid his head back...comments and suggestions welcome.

[Indranil Sircar]

The is awesome, John. I love the effect of your processing... excellent use of filters. For me the tight crop works... although I might tone down the white a bit, if it were mine. Excellent work.

[Paul Lagasi]

Couldn't agree more with Indranil, lovely work, effects and composition but I'd try to remove the large white patches and leave the flecks of white on the side, thats just my opinion tough......very nice

[Jay Sheinfield]

John, Fantastic! The eye just pulls me in...................agree with comments above. Beautiful lighting and processing compliment this great comp of the Bison. Excellent.

[John Storjohann]

Thank you for the comments and suggestions. I toned down the whites a bit...I tried removing the larger clumps of snow but felt they added a bit to the sense of time and place and decided to leave them in. Hoping to do some more images of the Bison this winter.

[denise ippolito]

John, I love this one. Great use of the filters. Repost works for me. The warm tones just pull you into the image, good use of the glamour glow!

Whoops, I forgot to mention I added some tonal contrast to the horn and eye area...

[Maureen Allen]

Really interesting comp, John. I think the bit of snow adds to the image. I like the repost.

[John Storjohann]

Denise, did you sharpen it a bit?

Whoops, I forgot to mention- I added some tonal contrast to bring out the horn and eye area. sorry... I didn't have my coffee yet.

[Brendan Dozier]

Beautiful filtering on this, John. Great looking eye and horn and like how where they are placed in the frame. Like the fur texture, warm color, light, and in your face composition. I wasn't sure at first what the white was until I read that it was snow, and then it made sense. Wondering if the snow would come across better if it was a slightly wider shot, but then you lose the interesting comp.

[John Storjohann]

Maureen and Brendan, thank you for your comments...deeply appreciated! Denise, no worries...I hadn't had my coffee yet,either, and couldn't for the life of me figure out if I was just sleepy or if it looked different - and better!

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi John, bison are among my favorite subjects but don't get to YSNP very often to capture them. I like the lovely saturation and mood you created. The tight comp is nice but I might have backed off just enough to get all of the muzzle area into the frame, or at least a bit more of it. Very nicely done!

[Bob Miller]

John I love everything about this...the composition , the colors, and warm tones.....except for the snow....It just doesn't do anything for the image in my opinion......just my two cents.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Very nice work John. The repost with the toned down whites is much better and I love what Denise did by adding some tonal contrast to the horn. Great work filtering this one!

[John Storjohann]

Kerry, Bob and Andrew..thank you for your comments!

[Nancy Bell]

Love the image and processing but I am among those that find the snow a distraction. I was playing around and another approach would be to crop out all the snow and leave the focus on the eye and beautifully colored horn. It makes me want to go find some bison to experiment with .