"X Shot" information.
Camera - Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III
ISO - 1250
Shutter - 1/800 sec.
F/stop - 4.0
Lens - 500 mm
LOCATION.
1. Rocky Mountain National Park is about a 3 hour drive from Denver.
2. Elk were located in the higher elevations of Trail Ridge Road.
3. Best time to locate wildlife is mornings and evenings.
THE CHALLENGE.
I wanted to get a nice shoot of a bull elk with its antlers still covered in velvet. Before the elk rut starts, they bulls will rub off the velvet.
THE SOLUTION.
To get this shot I had to go to the park in mid August, when the antlers would be big and still covered with velvet. Once finding the bulls, which wasn't easy, only saw four during my whole trip, I used a 500 mm lens to get a close shot. The main thing you want to do is have your camera, with your choice of lens, ready to shoot! To do this I put my camera on auto exposure, if the animal sticks around, than I will go to manual exposure, to fine tune it. I use two cameras, one with a 80-200 zoom and the other with my 500 mm lens. The elk might hang around for awhile or take off as soon as they see you, so be ready to jump into action and shoot quickly.
OTHER WILDLIFE PHOTOS FROM THIS SHOOT.
ALL PHOTOS ARE FOR SALE, CONTACT EMAIL ADDRESS BELOW.
Ken Papaleo
Colorado Wildlife Photographer
303-674-0615
Posts
