Category Archives: SoCo Photo Club

Prepping for Luck

When it comes to my wildlife photography, the question I get most often is, ‘how  did you get that shot?’ Some people believe it is mostly luck, and there is some truth to that. Luck is a big part of getting a good wildlife shot, but you have to be prepared for the moment when luck presents itself. For example, I’ll walk through my process on getting these elk shots in Rocky Mountain National Park.

So, how did I get the shots? Well, let’s take a look. First, I had to plan the shot. It started upon moving to colorado in 2012; all I knew was that I wanted some good elk pictures. In my mind’s eye, I pictured big bull elk with a full rack. I envisioned the iconic, bugling bull elk with steam erupting from his mouth.

Elk-4         Elk-3

                                     Both Images ISO 1000, 450mm, f/6.3, 1/800

That was a start. I had a vision. From there I had to do a lot of work to bring it to fruition. The next step was to decide when to try and get my photograph. I knew I wanted a full rack on my bull elk, not the velvety rack; I wanted the primed for battle, jagged, sharp rack. I also knew I wanted to catch steam coming from the elk’s hot breathe on a cold morning. This meant taking the image in fall. More than that, in order to catch that golden bugling elk shot, I knew my best chance would be the rut season.

So now I knew what time of year I wanted my picture, but I had to figure out what time of day. So, I did some reading and found that Elk bugle most just around sunrise and sunset.

Perfect! Now I knew when to try to get my photograph. Next was to decide what gear to use. I knew I wanted close up shots with lots of detail. I also knew the challenges that would present themselves. One of my favorite ways to shoot wildlife is handheld. I put on my trusty Sigma 50-500mm lens, set my ISO to auto, opened up the aperture and set the shutter to 1/1000. These settings allow me the freedom of moving around to stalk animals freely. However, I knew in this instance that would not work. The hours that I wanted to photograph were low light hours. This meant I could not handhold the camera. In order to keep proper exposure in the photograph, I had one option. Shooting with auto ISO was not that option, because in low light too much noise would be produced with using high ISO. Keeping the image sharp meant shooting at no more than 1,000 ISO on my Canon 6D; so that’s what I dialed in until the sun came up and I could lower the value. Also,  changing my aperture was not an option, being that it was already wide open. That left only one thing to change: the shutter speed, that would let in more light. This is where my problem presented itself. I do not like shooting slower than 1/1000th when handholding a 500mm lens. So this meant I needed a tripod.

So, I’ve gotten my Canon 6D with its Sigma 50-500mm lens ready to set up on my Triopo tripod. But what head did I use? Well, I always read that a Gimbal head was the way to go for wildlife. This was not for me… I liked that I could balance my lens and move easily horizontally or vertically, but I did not like being limited to those plains. I missed being able to move diagonally on a ball point axess. So, I ditched Gimbal head and used my trusty Neewer Ball Head. And that was my camera setup.

So at this point, I knew the image I wanted and I knew what camera gear  I needed to use. So where did I go from there? Well, for two years, I spent my fall evenings preparing for morning photography. This entailed, laying out clothes, checking camera settings,  and prepping/packing all gear so that I could wake up early to get my shots. When I say waking up early, I mean really early… sometimes in the 4am hour. There’s several reasons for this; one is to wake up my mind, another is to acclimate my camera, and the last is to get there and be ready. For me, I’m not clear headed enough for photography until I’ve been up a couple hours. Also, when shooting in the cold, you need to get your camera out in the weather early so that it can acclimate. Otherwise, you will have fogging problems with your mirror, sensor and lens. Lastly, you have to be there to get the shot ahead of time so you can set everything up and be ready. If I’m shooting a landscape at sunrise, I like to be there an hour before sunrise. With wildlife, I like to be out looking for critters as the sun rises; with wildlife in a busy National park… I like to be there hours before sunrise to beat the tourist crowd. The tourism crowd is a wildlife  photographer’s worst nightmare; any luck you find will disappear when the loud looky-loos arrive.

So, for two years, I woke up early most fall mornings. I woke up to drive around the Santa Fe Trail Ranches near Trinidad, Colorado looking for my elk. Well, I saw lots of elk, but I never saw my shot. For two years, I failed at getting my image. No luck… so where did I go from there? Well, the problem was a number problem. While the ranch had elk, it did not have the numbers I needed to get my shot in a reasonable timeframe. So, how did I increase my odds? Well, I learned through road tripping with my wife that the Rocky Mountain National Park was known for its busy elk season and their bugling. So, in the fall of this year (2015), I went with my wife, on our honeymoon, to the Rocky Mountain National Park. And this is where the luck happened.

For three days, we got up at 4am and went out into the park to get pictures. We were the first or second car in the park on those days looking for elk, and we found them. I got the iconic image I was looking for plus several more. All my planning paid off. We were there at the right time of year, during the right time of day, with the right gear, ready to rock and roll.

Elk-2 Elk

Both Images ISO 1000, 500mm, f/6.3, 1/800

The lucky part:  I was lucky enough to have several elk walk right up to me. It was amazing and scary. Why they walked right up to me I don’t know, but it made for some great closeups. I got several shots of elk standing within 10 feet of me with my 500mm focal length, making for extreme closeups. I was also lucky enough to see lots of bugling which allowed me lots of chances to get my “iconic” shot. Then, another piece of luck found me when I saw an elk approaching in the distance, as the sunrise was casting it’s light on the horizon, with an approaching elk centered perfectly in my viewfinder.

Elk-5

ISO 1000, 500mm, f/6.3, 1/800

So that’s how I got the shot: an insane amount of planning, a lot of patience, and a little luck. But then, all good things come to those who wait… Oh, and the luckiest part of this whole story… I found a wife who enjoys getting up at 4am, even on our honeymoon, to see elk and take photographs.

Welcome Eveyone!

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