Tuesday, February 28, 2012

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.

4 comments:

PaWingers said...

Willard, that was an awesome video! The fluid head performed very smoothly and the T3i did a superb job. Okay, you did very well also! It's so cool to have the ability of shooting stills and video. What I especially liked about this video is that the animals seemed to be unaware of you being there. The last time I spotted elk crossing Bennetts Branch they were quite aware of me being there and they were very spooky. I'm still not sure how you would have got into position with their knowing. Awesome job all the way around.

Coy Hill said...

Very nice! The calf nursing in the background was an added bonus.

Bob Shank said...

Yes, Willard, this is a great video! And as Coy pointed out, that nursing calf at the 40-second mark was a very nice added bonus! I also liked the music you used to accompany your video because it added to the drama quite effectively. Great job all the way around! Do you know that a T3i was used to shoot some scenes in "Act of Valor?"

V.L. Locey said...

Ah the glory of Pennsylvania. That was just beautiful, Willard!