Lakota Wolves and Fox

[MikeMcA²]

Back on 11/11/07, you may recall I went to the Lakota Wolf Preserve with the folks from Bergen County Camera in Westwood, NJ. Well, thanks for the advice and critique, because I actually ended up winning the friendly contest at the store, as judged by a NGS photog there at the store last Friday evening on their "Canon Night" (which I took a certain amount of pleasure in because I'm a Nikon shooter :rofl )

After getting off a hectic work-travel schedule I was able to run some more shots from the day through PP (Capture NX) and thought I'd post here for anyone interested. It's a really cool venue for shooting.

The winner

http://MikeMcA2.smugmug.com/photos/224587851-L-8.jpg

The wolves

http://MikeMcA2.smugmug.com/photos/227810753-L-1.jpg

http://MikeMcA2.smugmug.com/photos/227812458-L-1.jpg

http://MikeMcA2.smugmug.com/photos/227813210-L-1.jpg

http://MikeMcA2.smugmug.com/photos/227815863-L-1.jpg

http://MikeMcA2.smugmug.com/photos/227810103-L-1.jpg

http://MikeMcA2.smugmug.com/photos/227811805-L-1.jpg

[Elaine]

Wow! Those are beauties and I can see why that first one was a winner! Congratulations on winning and a great set of shots! :clap

[JohnGalt_ny]

Mike

Congratulations on the win. Great Shoot.

I have a wolf series going also except I can't match (1) your location; (2) your equipment and ---- oh yeah (3) your talent. But we do live just across the river from each other.

Nice job.

[Harryb]

Well, thanks for the advice and critique, because I actually ended up winning the friendly contest at the store, as judged by a NGS photog there at the store last Friday evening on their "Canon Night" (which I took a certain amount of pleasure in because I'm a Nikon shooter :rofl )



:clap :clap :clap :lol4

Excellent shots, every one is a winner.

[MikeMcA²]

Thanks Harry, John, and Elaine!

John, are you in Westchester Co.? When I first moved up here, I lived in Yonkers. I saw your wolf images and think you did a great job. I was not aware there was another preserve there where you shot.

[Maestro]

Very nice series. I especially like 1, 3 and 5.

[ouigiman]

Hey Mike ... wow ... awesome photos :bow . I've been wanting to go there for about 2 years now - but being so far away, its an ordeal to get there. Anyway, I plan on going sometime in the next 6 months. Any words of advice? ... what lens did you use? ... iso setting? ... did you do the half day or full day of shooting? ... any tidbit of advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Luigi

[JohnGalt_ny]

Mike,

I live in northern Westchester, about 5 miles from the Bear Mtn Bridge and I was born in Havoc-on-Hudson (Yonkers).

The preserve where I shot these is in Lewisboro, 18 miles or so East of me. My wife & I volunteer there about twice a month for tours and classes. You can check it out at nywolf.org. Let me know if you're interested

Again, great shots.

[MikeMcA²]

Any words of advice? ... what lens did you use? ... iso setting? ... did you do the half day or full day of shooting? ... any tidbit of advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Luigi

Luigi,

I took a 70-200 f/2.8 and 400 f/2.8 for this shoot with my D2X. Frankly, the 400 was overkill (although I love the "bokeh" and the tight in-frame cropping it affords).

Lighting was low-level, and since I didn't want to shoot over ISO 400 with this camera, and tripods aren't really practical here, I was pretty challenged to get sharp images with enough DOF using a monopod. Shutter speeds and f-stops ranged from 1/60th to 1/400th, and f 3.5 to f/4 for the most part. If you go to my SmugMug site the Exif is all listed there, but doesn't seem to carry over here. One guy was there with the EOS 1D MkIII and was happily shooting away at ISO 1600. I was jealous lol.

I went on a trip with a local camera shop, so the price was less than 1/3rd the normal "full-day" pass but we still got to see all three packs and the foxes. The single-shooter half-day pass only allows one pack, and the full day allows all but it's $700.

Bergen County Camera goes once a year, and it was $200 for the several hours there and they provide bus transport from the store to Western NJ, food/coffee in the morning, and Tamron was there with loaner lenses to try if you are so inclined. I'm looking forward to next year, but I'd love to go back with just me or another shooter so there isn't the hectic crowd distracting the wolves, but I gotta save my moneys for the new gear.

[dbaker1221]

excellent shots

[raptorcaptor]

Nice set!

[JohnGalt_ny]

Mike,

You mentioned a bus ride to the preserve. I assumed that you meant the Lakota pack out west. Was this preserve somewhere around here??

[MikeMcA²]

Mike,

You mentioned a bus ride to the preserve. I assumed that you meant the Lakota pack out west. Was this preserve somewhere around here??

John, Bergen County Camera provided a bus to get from their shop in Westwood, NJ, out to the Preserve in Columbia, NJ and back. This was included in the cost of the day-trip.

[JohnGalt_ny]

Thank you sir. Maybe I'll see you next time they go.