Typically when I see pronghorn they are hundreds of yards away in an open field. On this particular day in Yellowstone, however, there happened to be a buck and doe pronghorn very close to the road and conveniently near a pull-off. I slowly pulled off the road, grabbed my lap camera and sat on a small boulder trying to look nonthreatening. I was between about 25 and 50 yards from both animals and they seemed to barely notice me.
Feedback Requests
Any critiques of this image would be most welcome. I would especially like to hear feedback on the black and white processing. The biggest modification I made was to darken the background.
Pertinent Technical Details
Canon R5 Gen 1, Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L lens, hand held
ISO 500, 500 mm, f/7.1, 1/1000sec
All editing was done with Photoshop and sharpening was done with Topaz
Hi Willem! This is a nice head and shoulders portrait of the pronghorn doe. You captured good detail and I like the profile comp. The sunset reflected in her eye is very cool. I suggest brightening her up just a touch, probably by increasing the lights in LR’s Tone Curve tool. Also suggest cropping off the left to eliminate the black bush, which I think would bring a bit more balance to the image. But it is very nice as is also.
Willem, this is an intriguing view of this Pronghorn. You’ve got great details in her and she’s nicely separated from the background. I find your framing to be somewhat novel and think it works well. You might try cropping to 4x5 to remove that bush on the left or you could dodge it somewhat to reduce it’s visual impact. I love how well the tufts of fur above her eyes show.
