Elk Crossing Bennetts Branch

There is something about the successful incorporation of water in the composition that makes a wildlife photo or video clip have special appeal, whether it be of animals drinking from a stream or pond, or crossing a stream that passes through a picturesque setting. As I noted in the last post, I spend little time near the river when in Pennsylvania elk country, but I frequently think about the outstanding photographs and video I have seen taken there, such as video segments taken by Billie Cromwell in the late 1990's and stills by Ron Saffer from that time and earlier. Another outstanding example that I think of frequently is "Water Fight", which features two bulls in fierce combat in the river near Driftwood.  It was taken by the late Terry Younkin and is featured on a sign at the Hicks Run Viewing Area.

At any rate, as promised here is the video of the herd of elk crossing Bennetts Branch of Sinnemahoning Creek, which most persons I know simply refer to as "the river".



This video was taken with the Canon T3i DSLR, a Manfrotto 516 fluid head, and a Canon 100-400mm L lens at varying focal lengths. All clips were taken at ISO 100.  It is always a tough choice  between using this and the Canon XL-H1.  The H1 is sharper and as long as one uses the normal lens the auto focus works well, but once one shifts to the longer lenses it is easier to obtain accurate focus with the DSLR as both must be focus manually when taking video with these lenses.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard HIll.