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This view on Colorado's Mount Evans shows beautiful wildflowers and a curious young mountain goat. This image took 2 years to obtain and about 2 dozen trips to Mt Evans. The reason is described in my Photo Ethics and Camera Limitations statement. I needed two cameras to obtain this image. One to capture the mountain goat without movement, and the second, a large format 4x5 camera to capture the details of the landscape. The 4x5 camera needed front tilts and an f/64 f-stop for keeping the foreground all the way to the distant mountains in sharp focus. That required a 2-second exposure, which would blur the goat as it walked over the rock. So I arrived at the scene, photographed the goat with a 35 mm camera and 100-400 mm lens at 100mm. I then set up the 4x5, which took about 20 minutes to position and focus using a 90mm lens, and completed the 2-second exposure. I then digitally merged the two images (slightly reducing the 35mm image to match the size on the 4x5).
Why did this take 2-years and a couple dozen trips? First finding the goats in interesting places was important, and lighting was important. I photographed many mountain goats and other animals on each trip (see my nature page, link below). I've also photographed many beautiful scenics on most trips. I could easily take a goat from another area and put it in any scene. But this image is one I actually saw, but can't be photographed because of the limitations of any one camera. But by using the two cameras, and merging the two images, it now becomes possible to capture what we see with our eyes. it took many trips for all these things to come together just right. The digital merge took about 20 hours of work at the computer.
In 1999, I worked on a similar image just to the right of this spot. I photographed an old goat lying on a rock, then set up the 4x5. The goat was still on the rock. As I was focusing, he got up and moved. I was still under the dark cloth when I heard a noise behind me and a nudge at my rear. The goat was standing right behind me, curious as to what I was doing (and probably looking for food)! I wish there was another photographer present to get that image.
The large format image shows detail similar to what you can see standing on this spot. This large-format (4x5) image is 12,992 x 16,500 pixels (approx 3300 dpi drumscan) and allows sharp enlargements of 43.3 x 55 inches at 300 pixels per inch to be made. Imaged with a 90 mm lens at f/64 and Fujichrome Velvia.
The two images below show the detail in this image at half the full resolution. When viewed on a 72 dpi monitor, the full image would appear about 90 inches wide and 115 inches tall (7.5 x 9.6 feet)! Imagine a wall size picture in front of you as you view these two images. You would normally step back a few feet to view the full image. Note the two flies in the yellow flowers. A print of 24 x 30 inches shows the fly nicely (but small).
To learn how to obtain stunning images like this, please visit my Extensive Articles on Photography .
Keywords to this image = landscape-1 nature-1 colorado mountains wildflowers mtn_goat large_format
Image ID: c071200_L4_01_600-mt_evans_goat.jpg
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Last updated March 10, 2024