Muskrat

I like it a lot, Melvin. You have both an intimate portrait, and at the same time a nice sense of habitat. I like the sharpness and detail. I might selectively darken the reeds in the bg.

HI Melvin,

This muskrat is doing its best to imitate a beaver in this shot - when size references are removed (like in this shot), they look remarkably similar. I like how you placed the subject in this shot and while the muskrat is quite dominant in the frame, there are still sufficient clues to give nice habitat context to the image. As John suggested I think the reeds in the background could/should be toned down a little in brightness. If the image were mine I'd probably also experiment with darkening the water just a tad as well - I think doing that would make the muskrat pop out even more. To me the muskrat looks a little on the soft side but I think a little selective sharpening could really bring out nice detail here...

Cheers...thanks for sharing this...

Brad

Excellent Muskrat image Melvin! The low angle, the wet fur detail, catchlight, all ingredients for a good photo, well done. I do agree on the sharpening and toning down the brighter BG elements a bit.
You mention you are shooting in AUTO mode? If you mean Auto Exposure the it means you are shooting in jpeg then isn't it? I just wonder what your reasoning would be for that as shooting in in RAW has many advantages which will lead to much better IQ.

These guys are hard to get in a non-obstructed or non-cluttered environment. This is really pretty clean. I like the blue water texture and the water droplets on his fur. Pink toes and eye catchlight are bonus!

hey Melvin

A great image of great little animal the whole image works for me
Ron

Muskrats are adorable...cool shot. The fur is a bit soft...but the "eye-level" shot is great.