Last Light

This is a gem, Stephen. A once-in-a-lifetime shot, in my opinion. Can you tell us a bit more about the taking of this photograph ? Best regards. Peter

Peter, I agree that it was a once-in-a-lifetime shot, and the circumstance were unusual.

I was photographing the landscape of the Badlands National Park in South Dakota near the end of the day.  As I finished and was getting ready to leave, I spotted three bighorn rams that were lying on the ground in the area that I had been photographing -- they had been there the whole time but I had looked past them to the landscape beyond.  Just about the time I saw them, they got up and started to walk slowly from left to right toward the depths of the canyon.  I was photographing them as they moved, sometimes getting a side shot and sometimes an unflattering rear-end shot.  As they moved, one took a slightly different route out onto this point, and I was shooting as it walked.  It paused, stood at an angle to me, and looked toward the setting sun.  I took the photo, and this is it.

I had only an 80-200mm lens and a 1.4x multiplier with me at that momemt, which the manufacturer (Nikon) said should not be used in combination.  I had a longer telephoto back in my vehicle, but no time to get it, so I made do with this combination.  The piece of incredible luck (or incredible stupidity, depending on how one looks at it) is the fact that this photo was #36 on a roll of 36-exposures film; I had almost run out of film taking shots of the animals as they walked along.  One additional shot (and none of the previous shots had much merit to them) and I would not have had film left to make this shot.  

So to see the rams just as I was turning to leave, to get a ram almost posing for me in the last sliver of light in this incredibly rugged landscape, and to do it on frame #36 were all pieces of incredibly good luck.  I came so very close to not being able to get this photo.  I'm probably also fortunate that I didn't have a long telephoto with me, because the tendency is often to get as much of the animal as possible.  I like this photo because it shows the ram in the context of its habitat, and having the equivalent of a 280mm lens made that possible.

I think the things that I did right was to set a correct exposure in difficult light, and I like the framing with the ram looking into the photo and set in the lower third (or more) to best show its habitat.

Thank you, Stephen. I was sure there would be an exciting story behind this shot. You were extremely lucky, but here we say that luck is sometimes a privilege of the prepared. You are certainly an avid photographer and you do deserve that you were able to get this shot. Goes to my favourites. Best wishes. Peter

Fantastic photograph, Stephen, and the story makes it even better.  Once in a lifetime opportunity realized very successfully.

A story how luck played a part in getting this photo.... Comments and

suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

I didn't read  any of  the comments, before  put down my.

I like this bad-land image, the texture, the color, but  my eyes can't  rest,   keep going to the  highlighted  part, and  complaining, compared  to the  other  part of the image,  not  sharp enough. Highlighted  by the warm light  but  last some  sharpness/ details. I don't know  how  to explain, my eyes  cant  rest on the  foreground  highlighted  part of  the image.  Even  the mountain goat not  helping me here. IMHO of cause!

OK. . . .  Sam's to me, I'm  the  one, whom not  to exited. I hope, the  original image  is  much better, we  have a problem here  with the limited internet quality, I assume. The shoot is definitely a great shot, a great moment, and a perfect lighting.

  "I had only an 80-200mm lens and a 1.4x multiplier with me at that moment, which the manufacturer (Nikon) said should not be used in combination" . . . ok, thats explain everything.  I had  a bed experience  with this combination, and  never  used after  that. Actually, I not  longer own the 80-200/2.8, I never  liked  the  range and  the bulkiness  of  the lens. My 200/4 AI-S, or  the 180/2.8 ED AI-S  can produce  better sharpness, in a mach smaller  bulk. And I always cary with me, the 300/4.5 ED AI-S, because  it  is  so small.

?

Bela, this is an image that will always look better as a larger print than as a relatively small image on a computer screen.  You've added contrast, more than I would add, but perhaps it's a move in the right direction.

Stephen, I  added contrast and  sharpening on the hill, selectively, where the goat standing, removing some blue from this area  and add a little to the far hills.  You  right,  this  kinda images  are  much better  in  large size. It is a great shoot anyway.

Bella,  sometimes the high contrast is a strain on the eye and emotions.  The subtle hues of the original is less dramatic and create a more serene peaceful atmosphere where you feel like sitting in this calm place and let the world go by.  You can almost feel the silence whereas in the dramatic rendition, you expect thunder.

Great!

280's enough I guess when you want to put the animal in perspective.

An interesting crop might be cutting off the top 40 to 50 percent of the picture to make it a "panavision" shot.

All the best, Matthijs.

Excellent momment and ex photo

Regards

I enjoyed the story nearly as much as I enjoyed viewing the photo. How typical is that, we concentrate so much on what we think is a great shot and miss something right under our noses, well thankfully not quite miss it in this case. The rocky plateau with the Ram highlighted by the setting sun is a fantastic coincidence of time and motion, the last shot of a roll of 36......this was definately one that was mean't to be! I like the image as it shown here with the surrounding rocks, it gives the viewer a good idea of scale and the environment. Ok if you had a longer lens you would have undoubtabley captured greater detail, but possibly at the expense of losing some of the sense of BIG scale and atmosphere that prevails in this one.

Very well done Stephen.

Best Regards

Alf

Your composition here is spot on. No matter your subject is small or big, it is in the right place on the right time. I know this animal and I can animate in my mind the look of the animal but it looks perfect in this position not only because of the light coming on but also it gives perfectly a sense of scale which is more important for me than the size of the animal. Thank you for sharing it...