Coyote Leap Morning
October 15th, 2024
A good morning of photography filled with many photographic opportunities in the Lamar Valley. This is the road in the northern part of Yellowstone. Lots of different kinds of habitat including tree lined roads and vistas of grass.
I had the chance to push the limits of the Canon R5 Mark II auto focus when I photographed a coyote hunting. Marcia spotted her crossing the road on the western edge of the Lamar Valley. I quickly got out and started shooting hand held. My wife marcia brought out the tripod and we then had and hour of following the coyote hunt.
She was in the grass which did cause issues with the focus keeping locked on. Several times I had to require focus using single focus. I have shot birds before and branches didn’t cause as many issues as that grass. Lots of out of focus shots as a shot but I could always see it when it went out of focus and require.
Then the moment came when she lept in the air. My wife marcia told me to look out for it. I had the Preshoot setting on and it captured the images as soon as I hit the shutter a few moments before I reacted. Game changer to have that capability. Even more of a game changer was the fact that the focus followed her as she sailed up in the air. My R5 could not do that. It was at this moment the Mark II proved its cost from earlier in the year.
The Mule deer was also in the western edge of the Lamar Valley. We came up her at the very end of our day as we were headed back to Gardiner. She was right on the hillside to our right and stayed there long enough for me to get a few shots with the Canon R5 Mark II and 600mm. She was so close that I took head shots instead of full body shots. All of these were handheld.
The bison shots were taken in the Lamar Valley near the research station. They were very close to the road and were crossing it as the sun rose over the mountains edge. The light from the sun added the chestnut color to their coats. These were the first shots of the day.
