“It was a surreal experience, as the bison just kept walking in formation towards our vehicle,” says Panasuk of Douglas, Wyoming, who snapped this shot from inside a snow coach driven by a park guide in January 2024. Outside, it was minus 20 degrees F. “You can see a heat fog coming off the bison,” he said. — Mark Panasuk
I think it might be real
https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2026/Winter/PhotoZone/2025-Photo-Contest
Thank you for doing your research! I appreciate you finding it so now all of us can genuinely marvel at this shot before instantly jumping to conclusions. (this is genuine, not sarcasm)
I’ve been genuinely shocked by some of the posts on here. I’ve been on the skeptical side and assumed something was AI when it wasn’t.
Now I always do a quick search to verify. In a way it has raised my appreciation for how truly magnificent nature can be.
What a phenomenal perspective. I think I will adopt it too. That’s awesome:)
Wow, that link is awesome.
It's a real photo, but with an obscene amount of HDR processing
Yeah, this is a cash prize for photography. If this is AI, that's fraud.
Do people submit fraudulent images to photography contests and some slip through to win awards? Yes. But there are teams of judges and oversight to try to avoid that, so it's a little rarer with them than just any random picture posted on social media.
Cool story. Looks fake as hell.
It's a real photo, it's just had way too much HDR processing applied to look entirely natural.
Go bills!!
Go Bills!
On a road?
where they're going, they don't need roads
I get it. But it looks like they’re on a road.
Marching riiight towards the camera. As AI animals tend to do.
Yeah.
It's AI. They don't have shadows...
Also they're coming right toward the camera, very typical AI setup.
All the more so because no way anyone just stood there with a camera with a herd of fucking bison marching relentlessly toward them...
The image also has that typical slimy-smooth AI sheen.
This is the 2nd place award winning mammal photo from the NWF photo contest. Must have tricked all them too.
Seems like they're marching down a road.
Kinda easier, don't you think?
Yeah, this is AI. Next time add "do NOT make them come toward the camera" to the prompt.
r/confidentlyincorrect
AI.
Awesome photo of a herd of Buffalo.
winter warriors? so... buffalo soldiers?
amazing
There are so few 😕 sad
Hell yeah
Edit lol wtf you have against Buffalo??