Confrontation of Wolves

Eldrich · Jan 7, 2009

I took these pics of Mexican Gray Wolves at the MN zoo. Let me know what you think

1. This wolf was in a submissive pose, his tail was tucked under his backside and he was hunched forward. One of his ears was also injured from a previous fight. He kind of whimpered around in his own area of the pen.

2. Some of the younger wolves saw him and chased him. In the full sized image of this photo, fresh blood can barely be seen on the snow underneath the leftmost wolf.

3. one of the younger wolves ran past the old/injured wolf and he snarled and snapped at him as he ran past.

4. Finally after that exchange, it seemed that the old wolf had gained some confidence because he had held his own during the exchange in pic 3. I eventually caught this pic of him standing up on a rock, it is my favorite in the lot.

I think he was either once in power of the pack and was being outed, or had made a play for the top and lost. His busted ear, and the blood on the snow suggested that this was only one incident in a struggle that had been going on a while, and would probably go on for much longer.

I know they're not the best shots technically. I think they are all a little overexposed, but all of this happened in the span of 15 minutes or so, and I was busy snapping away and watching them, so I didn't really think of adjusting my settings. Partly I wanted to post them because I think they are pretty interesting as a set, because I was able to capture the whole story as it was happening, so I like them better as as set more than any individual pic.

But that being said any C&C is welcome on the shots themselves, and on PP (I am pretty new to fiddling with curves on DPP) Any advice as to how to make sure to capture technically great shots when you're given an opportunity that may not repeat itself?

Flower Child · Jan 7, 2009

these are very good and very fun to look at. the last is my favorite too. i like them as a series too. im still fairly a beginner but heres a few critiques.

1 is very interesting because you dont see that pose everyday. he is a little blurred though. faster shutter speed if you have a camera you can adjust that on.

your timing was great in the 3rd i just wish your shutter speed was set a little faster because the left wolf is motion blurred. it gives it a good sense of the speed they lunged at each other but it just sort of hard to see him. i know it probably would have been hard to see that coming though.

in 4 you captured a great look. but me -personally- i would have had his head in the top right corner so you could see in the direction he was looking.

Ron Evers · Jan 7, 2009

Strange, only #2 & 4 show for me.

stsinner · Jan 7, 2009

Only 2 and 3 show for me..

I really like these pictures as they tell a story and are reasonably well compositioned.. I wouldn't be surprised if that old wolf is dead by now-once wild predators sense that one is weakened, usually they'll take him out..

Eldrich · Jan 7, 2009

Thanks for the comments!

Flower Child said:
your timing was great in the 3rd i just wish your shutter speed was set a little faster because the left wolf is motion blurred. it gives it a good sense of the speed they lunged at each other but it just sort of hard to see him. i know it probably would have been hard to see that coming though.

in 4 you captured a great look. but me -personally- i would have had his head in the top right corner so you could see in the direction he was looking.

Thanks. I was in Av mode for a while trying to blur out dirty cages glass and fences, it wasn't until later I realized i should shoot in Tv mode to capture action shots.

I agree that the composition would make more sense with the open space on the other side of him, where he's looking, but i didn't think of it at the time.

stsinner said:
Only 2 and 3 show for me..

I really like these pictures as they tell a story and are reasonably well compositioned.. I wouldn't be surprised if that old wolf is dead by now-once wild predators sense that one is weakened, usually they'll take him out..

Thank you, it was an interesting trade off because I had to try to crop the images so they still gave the whole story, but at the same time were somewhat interesting shots in their own right.

and I hope he's not dead.

As for the trouble seeing the pics. sorry. i think the issue may be something with picasa's server or something, as when I tried to view them on my online album different shots loaded online each time i tried loading within a few minutes, so I don't know what I can do to help that other than wait and hope the problem resolves itself. here is the link to my album, maybe they will show up on there:

Picasa Web Albums - Neal - Nature Shots

Wildlife girl · Jan 7, 2009

I'm not here to offer tech advice, as I am a newbie. But, I think these photos are fascinating! I understand that there are things that could be better in some of the photos, but you captured some very interesting action.

I love wolves, and am hoping for the rarity of catching one in the wild in Alaska in June. There will be no snow that time of year which will make them even more difficult to spot, but probably easier to shoot.

If by chance I catch a shot of a wolf it will be posted here for sure!

Really enjoyed your photos.

Eldrich · Jan 7, 2009

thanks wildlife girl

when i was in alaska the closest we came to a wolf was when a state trooper pulled our van over on the dalton highway and told us he was speeding ahead to shoot a wolf a few hours north who had just attacked a woman. never saw the wolf. but it was a great trip

cassinator · Jan 9, 2009

Wow Nice shots. I will have to try to make it over to the MN Zoo soon. Lived right next to it for a year and never made it over there

Did you get any good shots of the new exhibits?

-Justin

Eldrich · Jan 9, 2009

Thanks justin, you really should get out there. I hadn't been there for ~7 years or so before last week, so I really can't tell you which one exhibits were new, but it is a great zoo. Just for fun, here are two pics, of a fisher, and of a red panda.

sabbath999 · Jan 9, 2009

Eldrich said:
I was in Av mode for a while trying to blur out dirty cages glass and fences, it wasn't until later I realized i should shoot in Tv mode to capture action shots.

Here's a hint from somebody who has shot (literally) tens of thousands of zoo pictures... when you are walking around a zoo, have your shutter speed set to at LEAST 1/640th of a second... things will pop up right in front of you and if you are quick you can nail them. When you go to compose something that isn't moving or is fairly still, you can switch over to aperture priority mode if you wish...

Using a high shutter speed also helps limit your depth of field, blurring fencing and artificial enclosure features.

To really freeze a running animal you need to shoot 1/640th or more...

Eldrich · Jan 10, 2009

Thanks for the tip Sabbath, I sort of reached that conclusion at the end of the day, but 1/640th is quicker than I probably would have started at. I'll definitely do that the next time I'm at a zoo. It was much more challenging shooting at a zoo than I would have thought! but i enjoyed it a lot.

Since you've had a lot of zoo experience, can I ask you a question, do you use flashes? Other photographers were using flashes, and there were no signs and nobody from the zoo said anything, but I used one once on a little squirrel guy and he didn't seem to like it so I stopped using mine all together. Just curious what you thought.

Al-Wazeer · Jan 10, 2009

they are cool but if the shutter speed is faster it would be better to stop the motion of the wolves! and i loved the last one!

Eldrich · Jan 10, 2009

Thanks Al-Wazeer, when first looking at the picture I sort of thought the blurriness in the running wolf might give it a sense of motion, but in hindsight it would be much cooler if it was all in crisp focus.

I like the last one too, notice how is left ear is folded over injured from the previous fighting.

sabbath999 · Jan 10, 2009

Eldrich said:
Since you've had a lot of zoo experience, can I ask you a question, do you use flashes? Other photographers were using flashes, and there were no signs and nobody from the zoo said anything, but I used one once on a little squirrel guy and he didn't seem to like it so I stopped using mine all together. Just curious what you thought.

I feel free to use a flash unless it specifically says "no flashes"... as animals in the zoo are QUITE used to them... the squirrel you were shooting was likely wild and therefore not used to it.

Using a flash while shooting through a cage is useless at best, and most often makes it worse to try to get through. Also, shooting through glass with a flash is tricky to do.

If you are going to use one, make sure there isn't a "no flash" sign.

I was at the Knoxville TN zoo a couple of years ago, and they have a white royal bengal tiger. Nearby there is a sign that says "don't use a flash, Kali doesn't like flashes"... interestingly, they didn't say who "Kali" was and the sign was out in the middle of the walkway and could have been referring to several different animal enclosures...

Well, since the tiger was behind a chain link fence, a flash would be pointless anyway, and I had already had my flash turned off. Still, I was using a 70-200 VR with an SB-600 sitting on top, and I walked over to the fence to see what I could see. The kitty saw me coming near it, and snarled at me when I raised my camera. It knew what the camera was, and could see the flash on it... It didn't know, of course, that the flash was off. I took one shot, and realized that I had missed the focus on it when all the sudden the cat jumped up, and ran as hard as it could, leaped, bounced off the fence and screamed at me from about 3 feet away. It then simply flicked its tail and trotted off.

I didn't get a good picture out of the deal, but at least it was interesting...

Here's the shot I bungled... ended up being the only shot I got of the tiger: