Highland Cows

Frogwell

Normally I lurk about in the field and street board, but I recently bought a 55-200 VR lense with intent to capture things that squawk. Sod's law dictates that since the arrival of the lense the wind has been on on a high setting thus keeping the normally large number of miscellaneous birds of prey who practice singing badly round my house firmly in their beds, presumably watching rubbish day time television.

Not wanting to waste a non rainy day, I went into the field at the back of my house and decided to make peace with the cows who I normally reserve my very worst language for as I try to explain to them why I don't want them in my garden. So, my first picture I took with the new lense, and then swapped back to the 18-70 as the cows are obviously very vain and were clambering over each other to have their pictures taken.

This one taken with the 55-200



A non highland bull taking a break.





I really wanted this picture to be better, but it wasn't so I stuck a warming filter effect on it and pretended it was arty.


















I think this picture had a lot of potential and I'm a bit annoyed that it's not better. Still . . it's a learning process I suppose.



I also thought this scene was better through my eyes, as the mother took a break while her calf slept (until I woke it up for the photo of course) but it just didn't come out how I wanted.

aktpics

Wow, magical photos. I think I like 4,5,6 best - the colors of the cows, hillls and sky are fantastic. I kind of like the shot of the Viking on the hill too

hamster

I've never seen cows looks so beautiful. These shots are fantastic. I think 6 is my favorite, but I really like them all.

riddim_maker

Try as I might, I couldn't find one bad picture in this lot
great lighting, composition, color, you name it
Seems like you need to visit us here at N&W more often

Ric Grupe

Wonderful

Awais Yaqub

Beautiful photos loved the colors and compos

dbaker1221

those are really good. :ivar

saad alqasem

wow wow

Wonderful \\\


Wonderfu lWonderful Wonderful

jwear

I do not like cow photos until now great work -you made them look good

raptorcaptor

Very nice set! Like the contrast in these photos!

Jack'll do

Truly awesome animals and captured with perfection. I saw one of these at a little farm on Block Island some years ago.

DaddyO

Some real stunning stuff to view. Super nice. If I stick around much
longer viewing pictures here on this forum my knees are going to be in a world of hurt. Michael

Harryb

Marvelous set of shots. the lighting and the colors are superb.

Giphsub

with everyone's comments

Frogwell

Many thanks for the positive comments folks, it's much appreciated. So now I just need to move from slow moving vain cows to camera shy red kites. Looks to be a perfect day for it today, which is all the more aggravating as I've twisted my back and neck which means I seem to be stuck looking at the ground 3 metres in front of me. Although if a bird lands there, I'm going to get a really good photo of it

MikeMcA²

It's all been well-said regarding the excellence of the images, but I really enjoy the commentary, as well! Thanks for a great look and read.

Maestro

I love these. The composition and color are especially good in many.

colfragless

Wow makes me want to go and take pictures of some cows.... Great set!!!!!
~Sparky~

Chrissiebeez_NL

super!
nice setting too!

teamracephotos

Beautiful images!
I have never seen cows with long hair. Is this a northern thing? MM

Trish323

I absolutely love your style of shooting!! I took a look at your homepage and wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed loking at your work. Just beautifulclap

JohnDC

Wonderful shots. Great lighting, scenery, and bovines. How did you get the chiaroscuro effect? Flash? Patches of light coming through the clouds? It's very effective, making your photos look like pastoral paintings. Very nice.

Frogwell

teamracephotos wrote:

I have never seen cows with long hair. Is this a northern thing? MM

They'd be Scottish Highland cows. You can find more information about them on Wikepedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_cattle

Probably not much call for cows with such heavy insulation in Florida

Trish323 wrote:

I absolutely love your style of shooting!! I took a look at your homepage and wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed loking at your work. Just beautiful

Thank you Trish

JohnDC wrote:

Wonderful shots. Great lighting, scenery, and bovines. How did you get the chiaroscuro effect? Flash? Patches of light coming through the clouds? It's very effective, making your photos look like pastoral paintings. Very nice.

The chiaroscuro effect (I had to google that :confused ) I can't take credit for I'm afraid, the clouds were doing all the work. That day we had winds gusting up to about 40mph at ground level so probably around 60mph or so at the cloudbase which meant the sky was changing rapidly and the clouds were frequently being broken up to let rays of sun through. It also meant there were periods of just complete grey, so I would have to just sit there talking to the cows. They were being polite and feigning interest, but after a while I could tell their boredom at my tales of flying machines and lands where the sun shone all day was becoming terminal. And have you ever tried to explain the concept of the sea to a cow? They gave me the pitying look which suggested they thought I'd been eating too many of the wrong kind of mushrooms.

Giphsub

:giggle

Classic!

JohnDC

Frogwell wrote:

The chiaroscuro effect (I had to google that :confused ) I can't take credit for I'm afraid, the clouds were doing all the work. That day we had winds gusting up to about 40mph at ground level so probably around 60mph or so at the cloudbase which meant the sky was changing rapidly and the clouds were frequently being broken up to let rays of sun through. It also meant there were periods of just complete grey, so I would have to just sit there talking to the cows. They were being polite and feigning interest, but after a while I could tell their boredom at my tales of flying machines and lands where the sun shone all day was becoming terminal. And have you ever tried to explain the concept of the sea to a cow? They gave me the pitying look which suggested they thought I'd been eating too many of the wrong kind of mushrooms.

Well, Frogwell, you can take credit for the great lighting. A lot of people don't have the eye for the changing light, or the patience to wait. As for the bored cows, how can they sit around and chew the cud with a non-ruminant? And the prattle about flying machines? Been there, done that--long before the first Apollo flight went over the moon. Not to mention seacows. duh? And about those mushrooms... well?