Posts in Category: American Bison
Yellowstone
We did not have any close views of wolves in Yellowstone. They were always well away, often across the river. This is a classic Yellowstone shot. American Bison holding down the top right, two Pronghorns crossing left, and a wolf in the foreground crossing right. They are all aware of each other, but not concerned, at least at the moment. Sony RX10iv at at least 600mm optical, and probably some Clear Image Zoom above that. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Red Dog
American Bison calves are commonly called “Red Dogs” because of their reddish color. They are everywhere at Yellowstone in the spring and early summer…not so much in early September…but this must have been a very late calf. These photos were taken well after sunset, as in the last light of day, using Sony’s Anti-motion Blur mode to make the most of the available light. We were stopped on our way back to Lamar Buffalo Ranch by the main herd of Bison crossing the road and I had lots of time to get a window down and photograph Bison in the pasture below the road as we waited. Sony RX10iv at 600 and 100mm equivalents. Anti-motion Blur mode. Processed in Polarr.
Digiscoping Yellowstone Bison
I am just back from 5 days in Yellowstone National Park, where Melissa Pinta and I taught a ZEISS digiscoping workshop for the Yellowstone Forever Institute. These are from our first wildlife encounter in the park (not counting the Elk on the lawns at the entrance in Gardner). We were headed for the Lamar Buffalo Ranch where the workshop was to be held and came on this small group of American Bison in the beautiful light of late afternoon. As we watched, the sun came over the group and we had to unpack the ZEISS Harpia spotting scopes and tripods from our luggage and set up…it was after all, a digiscoping weekend. 🙂 The first shot is with my Sony a5100 and the 18mm equivalent ultra wide before the cloud moved, and the second shot is digiscoped with the ZEISS Harpia 85mm and the Sony a6500 with the 20mm f2.8 (kindly provided by Sony for the workshop). The two images were taken from the same spot. Digiscoping, for those unfamiliar with the term, is the art of taking a photo with a digital camera through the eyepiece of a spotting scope, generally using some kind of mount or adapter to hold the camera (even your phone) centered over the eyepiece. ZEISS provides such an adapter for Mirrorless Camera Systems, like the Sony aXXXX series. The equivalent focal length, and magnification, can be much greater than you can get with a conventional camera lens, and, of course, especially if you use your phone, it is quick easy once you have the scope set up to just grab an extreme telephoto view. The way I do it is still Point and Shoot…since I let the camera do all the work of exposure and final focus. 🙂