Antelope! (lots of pics, dial-up warning)

kdog

Here's something you don't see every day. A herd of wild antelope. Since moving to AZ, I've been trying to photograph antelope with absolutely no luck. They're very elusive, skittish, very fast, and have great eye-sight. Typically all you see is a blur. So when fellow Dgrinner Aaron ( anwmn1 ) sent me a PM and offered to take me antelope hunting near his mom's place near Prescott, I jumped at the chance. Aaron delivered the goods. You never get very close to antelope. But it's the closest I've ever been to them, so I'm happy.

All shots with Canon 20D, 400mm F5.6 prime, plus Canon TC1.4X (taped pins) on tripod. These are all cropped to a degree, many over 50% or more. So that's an indicator of how far away these guys were.

#1 "look, there they are!"


#2 meal time


#3 "hey, where'd she go?"


#4 "now what?"


#5 under mom's watchful eye


#6 how do they eat that stuff?


#7 on the move


#8 tres amigos


#9 king of the hill


#10 The End


I hope you enjoyed them. Thanks to Aaron for showing me where the antelope roam.
-joel

Dante

Great series Joel!

I've been looking at the 400mm 5.6 as another lens to take on a trip to Yellowstone (I have a TC 1.4x). Would you say that the combo os worth having?

dbaker1221

alright! good for you ..must be thrilled to finally get some shots of them!!

JillG

Nice series:D. I didn't even know there were wild antelope in AZ !

Jill

anwmn1

Guess you decided to work on your photos when you got home and beat me to the posting!

Nice shots!! I'll try to get some up tonight.

kriyababaji

Great set of Photos

I really like the contrast of the yellow (unfortunately dry) grass and the pronghorns.

Shane

kdog

Dante wrote:

Great series Joel!

I've been looking at the 400mm 5.6 as another lens to take on a trip to Yellowstone (I have a TC 1.4x). Would you say that the combo os worth having?

Thanks, Troy. Looking at your lens lineup in you're profile, it's pretty clear that you should have a long tele in your collection if you're serious about wildlife. Unless you want to spend a fortune, the 400 prime would be a good addition for you. Bear in mind that using a TC1.4 on the 400 F5.6 actually makes it an F8 lens, which is beyond the AF design limit of the camera. So you either have to manual focus, or tape pins. Even taping pins, autofocus is unreliable and slow (not surprising). Some people report having better luck with 3rd party TCs by Tamron and Kenko. I've tried them, and they showed little or no improvement. So it works as long as your subject isn't moving around too much. BIFs would be out of the question most likely.

Cheers,
-joel

kdog

dbaker1221 wrote:

alright! good for you ..must be thrilled to finally get some shots of them!!

Thanks, David! Yup, I'm pretty pleased to have bagged 'em.

Cheers,
-joel

Osprey Whisperer

Nice series of captures Joel.

kdog

JillG wrote:

Nice series:D. I didn't even know there were wild antelope in AZ !
Jill

Thanks, Jill. Yeah, this is all new to me as well. Next on the agenda we're going to try for some big horn sheep.

-joel

kdog

anwmn1 wrote:

Guess you decided to work on your photos when you got home and beat me to the posting!

Nice shots!! I'll try to get some up tonight.

Thanks, Aaron! Yeah, I had to work fast to beat old speedy-gonzales. Looking forward to seeing your shots.

Great shooting with you, and thanks again for playing tour guide.

-joel

Shasoc

Congrats! Great job with that combo. Your images still retain very nice detail.

kdog

kriyababaji wrote:

Great set of Photos

I really like the contrast of the yellow (unfortunately dry) grass and the pronghorns.

Shane

Hey, Shane. You probably have these babies right in your backyard. Thanks for the comments!

-joel

Dee

Wow, how neat! You got some very interesting shots!

Ric Grupe

Love those earth tones.

pathfinder

Nice set of shots of antelope in very flat lighting.

As you say, antelope are wary, and do not permit you getting very close.

I love shooting pictures of antelope also

ShepsMom

These are great!! How lucky are you!! Where did you move from? I wish i could move somewhere where wild life is present!!
These guys are just too cute

Maestro

Very nice set. I like the comp in the King of the Hill shot. I would really like to expand and photograph more wildlife instead of primarily birds. Well, actually, I love photographing birds but you know what I mean.

I really think that wildlife photogs need to showcase what the environment has to offer. I can't tell how many people, upon looking at some of my photos, say that they have never seen this or that when, in fact, they are quite abundant. There is just too much damn concrete!

Anyhow, those are some very nice shots and I hope the herd continues to prosper.

Edit: Sorry for gettin' all Earthy. I have been feeling environmentally frustrated lately.

kdog

Bird Man Photographer wrote:

Nice series of captures Joel.

Thank you, sir!

-joel

kdog

Shasoc wrote:

Congrats! Great job with that combo. Your images still retain very nice detail.

Thanks very much, Socrate. Your 500mm/TC1.4X set up would have come in very handy on these guys.

Cheers,
-joel

kdog

Dee wrote:

Wow, how neat! You got some very interesting shots!

Thanks, Dee. Glad you like 'em.

-joel

kdog

Ric Grupe wrote:

Love those earth tones.

Thank you, sir! Some of them are almost too earthy. They really blend into the background sometimes.

Cheers,
-joel

kdog

pathfinder wrote:

Nice set of shots of antelope in very flat lighting.

As you say, antelope are wary, and do not permit you getting very close.

I love shooting pictures of antelope also

Thanks, Pathfinder. You've got some excellent shots there yourself. Where were those shot?

You should post more of your work.

-joel

kdog

ShepsMom wrote:

These are great!! How lucky are you!! Where did you move from? I wish i could move somewhere where wild life is present!!
These guys are just too cute

Thanks, Marina. I'm still trying to find wildlife in Arizona. You really have to go looking for it. It's not nearly as plentiful as I would have hoped. It's a big state, and they're really spread out.

We moved from Rockland County, NY. We were only in NY for three years, and it was during that time I bought my first DSLR. That's also where I got into birds. The Hudson Valley area is awesome for birds. I've got lots of shots from that area in my Eagles and Misc Birds galleries.

Cheers,
-joel

anwmn1

kdog wrote:

Thanks, Aaron! Yeah, I had to work fast to beat old speedy-gonzales. Looking forward to seeing your shots.

Great shooting with you, and thanks again for playing tour guide.

-joel

Shots are up!

How you like me know??

pathfinder

kdog wrote:

Thanks, Pathfinder. You've got some excellent shots there yourself. Where were those shot?

You should post more of your work.

-joel

Thanks, kdog.

I shot those in my gallery in New Mexico, Kansas, or Colorado. I shoot them whenever I get a chance to see them.

My last post about antelope was here

grimace

Great looking series Joel. Davev and I tried photographing them last winter in SD and they spooked as soon as you aimed the camera.

Giphsub

Good set Joel! I like 3, 5, and 9!

kdog

Thanks Adam and Mike, and thanks Adam for digging up this three year old thread.

The key to shooting antelope is having VERY long glass because they are so skittish. These were shot with a 400 and heavily cropped. I really need to get back there with my 500 for a reshoot. They're a fairly common site out by Prescott, AZ.

dlplumer

Cool set Joel thumb How come you didn't use the 500?

kdog

dlplumer wrote: »

Cool set Joel thumb How come you didn't use the 500?

Because I shot these and started this thread 3 years ago.

Thanks, Dan.