Hi,
I took this shot in October on an early morning frost in Yellowstone. It has been one of my best selling photos.

Your honest opinions will help me change it to make it even better.

Thanks,
Dale

Your best selling shot? What size do you sell it, and for how much? Framed, or unframed?

I think if its selling, people must like it, so I'd leave it alone. It's hard to say what, if anything would make it better without seeing first the native file. As for this shot, I think it's very nice. It's balanced, it has good color and the buffalo shows signs of life. I would like to see one as a landscape. I think that while this shot is balanced, the sky and most of the trees is just "extra" stuff. The top 1/3 of the shot could be removed and you would not lose much. I think if I were going to try to show the animal in a big, cold, lonely place, I'd try a landscape with lots more room about the front and back. It may not work, but then again it may.

It's a nice shot as it is, it screams cold yellowstone, so if that's what youre after, you did it.

It's such a small file and it's been compressed so m much it's hard for me to tell if the head is in focus. If it is, great, if it's not, then I dont know how you cold impove this shot. I looks to me like your focus hit the body and not the head, or the grass just in front of the animal, but for some reason it looks like the head is a little out of focus.

If it's in focus, I'd leave it alone, it's a nice shot. You askd for comments, so I just thew out some picky stuff for you to consider.

I agree that seeing the image in its intended context would inform any (further) post-processing. However, my initial thoughts (other than what has already been mentioned) would be to:
1. highlight the animal's eyes
2. bring out more detail in the animal's darker areas
3. tone down the white in the foreground a bit
4. enhance the white in the sky/mist above
Basically I'd want to add more 'pop' to the subject by highlighting certain aspects of the animal and managing the rest of the atmosphere around the animal accordingly.

It is a nice image, but a tough one to do well since the basic theme (Bison/Yellowstone/Winter) has been done so exceptionally well, so many times.

Thanks Tony,


I have sold the prints as 13x19 that I print myself on my Epson R1800. Print is about $45. I also send out the file and get prints 24x36. Print is $95. Since my main Source of income is my frame shop, I have an advantage to frame them as well. I have also framed this image 24x36 with a nice suede mat and filet to match the frame. I also always use UV glass to protect the image from light. This image looks best on the Epson Velvet Fine Art paper. It's very soft and the trees and light blue/gray sky looks great.

The original image was in RAW so it looks much better than the image that I posted here.

Thanks for the suggestions and I will try the landscape as well.

I appreciate all of your honest replies and it helps me improve my images.

Thanks
Dale

Thanks Buddy,

I'm going to work on the eyes and also maybe the body to make them more visible.
This guy was grazing for about 30 minutes before he finally looked up at me. I was able to get about 4 shots and then he returned to grazing. I'm hoping to get a better lens for my next trip that will give me a sharper image. I now use my D200 with a Prime, manual nikkor 400mm 5.6.

thanks
Dale

get a 200-400 af-s vr and be done with it!

Thanks Tony,
I hope I can afford one some day. that would be a great lens. Do you use any VR lenses?

Dale

This is a close up of the head. He seems to be in focus, but I have a question about the red edges on the snow covered grass etc. Can this be corrected in PS or is it something that happened when I shot this image. I did shoot it in RAW.

thanks,
Dale

The RED is a product of your sensor and your camera. . . I'm not a very good PS guy, so maybe someone else can help you with your other question . . . .

I think this shot is great. You really captured the coldness of it all, and the fog enhances the overall mood. My only comment is that I feel there is more sky than I would want - but this is a minor nit for a shot that I wish I would have been able to capture.

I have no idea of what caused the redness. I did go into Photoshop - use the color range select tool to select only the red areas, then use color balance to neutralize the red. Not sure if that helps, but I attached my attempt at it. Naturally it would be better to know what caused it in the first place.