Bull Elk Sparring Match

Len Backus

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These two guys were going at it for quite a while. Disclaimer: No animals were hurt in the filming of this scene!

So...the antlers being locked is key to this shot. One raised foot adds to the tension. The plane of focus is parallel to the elk. The snow on the ground adds great contrast and impression of sharpness.


Equipment used:
Nikon D1X camera
80-200mm VR lens
1/120 sec at F6.3
 

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thats a great shot! love your images. how far away were you?

one more question, does a higher F stop cause more things to be in focus in the entire image? and so, a lower F stop cause the subject to be in focus, and the background/foreground to be blurred? trying to get a better handle on some of this stuff.

thanks for posting, jon
 
Jon, thanks.

You got it right. In general, lots of depth of focus is good. But there could be times when you'd like to downplay a busy, distracting background and then using a lower F stop (which means a bigger opening in the lens' shutter) will be better. And of course, in low light as in this image, you must go with a lower F stop in order to have a fast enough shutter speed to avoid the effects of camera shake or subject movement induced image blur.

I shot this at about 80 mm, so I was probably 150 feet or so away.
 
Len once again GREAT PICS!!! I really love these pics and the others as well almost like being there simply AWESOME!!! I bet its good to have such willing subjects as well :)

That bull on the right looks to have some very nice mass also.

Aloha!!!
 
Guys, thanks much for your comments. I am glad you enjoy seeing the pictures. I just got back from Colorado, I'll post some fall color pictures later this week.
 
Great pic!!

I really like the info that goes along with what made it a good pic and what could be done differently. Please keepem coming Len!
 
Great picture Len, I have got to see bulls spar once but never seen a pair of them in an all out battle (ther than on TV). In the area that we hunt we have like 30' circles where the bulls had dug into the turf while have it out. It would be a pretty impressive sight to see a couple of monarchs get at er, thats alot of horsepower!
 
I sure love the pic Len, looks like a better pic then I could have gotten with my old Minolta SRT 101. ;-)))
I will probably be out coyote hunting Saturday, depending on the weather. If you want to go for a hike let me know.

Mike
 
Mike, thanks. I will either be bowhunting or doing some final rifle shooting in prep for my Montana mule deer hunt trip next Tuesday.

How about some time in December or January?
 
Len that is a great picture. Not sure why I didn't look at it before. I must have overlooked it.

How many pictures do you have to sort through to fine "the one"?
 
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