Teresa Hofer  

Mountain Goat Kid by Teresa Hofer

October 2026 - Mountain Goat Kid

October 2026 - Teresa Hofer

Original

About the Image(s)

I took this photo when visiting the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway in South Dakota on 9/29/26. The mountain goats in the Canyon are a regular feature and on this date, they were showing off. At one point I saw 10 goats at once, which is unusual. I especially liked this image of a mountain goat kid, showing his dorsal stripe. A dorsal stripe is a juvenile feature which shows up during the kid's first winter. The stripe will not be present in the kid's new coat next summer.

I captured this image with my D800 and 70-200 lens at 280mm; 1/400 sec; f/5.6; ISO 1250. After a slight crop and basic ACR adjustments, I dodged the eyes and used an AI sharpening tool on the entire image. To put more emphasis on the face/head, I selected the subject and masked it on top of a blurred layer. I applied a gradient to the blurred layer at an angle and dropped the opacity to 76% to help it blend in better. Then I adjusted the colors to darken the browns and blacks for more contrast. I have included the original.

Thank you for your comments and suggestions.

7 comments posted

Laurie McShane   Laurie McShane
This guy is looking into your soul. The composition is ideal, and his head is wonderfully sharp. It might be nice if the background in the lower right wasn't quite so blurred, but it's a great image either way. Thank you for the description of your editing process as I still have a lot to learn on many different aspects...   Posted: 10/02/2026 11:42:02
Teresa Hofer   Teresa Hofer
Laurie, see reply below.   Posted: 10/21/2026 03:10:33
Kathleen Colligan   Kathleen Colligan
Lucky you to see so many interesting things where you live! This little goat's pose and expression are wonderful, and I enjoyed learning about the dorsal stripe. My only suggestion is to consider removing the blades of grass above the goat's stripe. What a lovely capture!   Posted: 10/02/2026 12:00:48
Teresa Hofer   Teresa Hofer
Kathleen, see reply below.   Posted: 10/21/2026 03:10:51
Arabella Dane   Arabella Dane
I'm loving the angle of view and the quizzical expression! Your picture brings out his vitality as he is posed to launch! The fuzziness of his coat is well portrayed as he gets dressed for fall. Agreed that the in focus grass above his back is a distraction. What is making the face of the rocks have that bluish tinge?   Posted: 10/09/2026 20:28:52
Teresa Hofer   Teresa Hofer
Arabella, see reply below.   Posted: 10/21/2026 03:11:14
Teresa Hofer   Teresa Hofer
Laurie, Kathleen, and Arabella: Thank you all for lending your sharp eyes and well-directed comments to this image! I have tried to address them all in this new edit.
Laurie, what I tried to do with a post-process blur is very difficult and I didn't do a good job with it. I have added an additional gradient over the blurred layer that removes the blur from the lower right and lowered the opacity of both blurs.
Kathleen and Arabella: I have removed the distracting grass above the goat's back using the remove tool. Thank you for that suggestion!
Arabella: I increased the bluish tinge with my color adjustments. I have reverted back to the original color (which was bluish to begin with) and adjusted the color temp in ACR to more yellow.
I hope this looks better. I sure like it better and appreciate your recommendations!   Posted: 10/20/2026 21:06:41
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