f/32!

Very interesting image, not what you think of coming out of Africa. I like the DOF you got, but the dassie rats seem a bit soft. Noise does not seem to be a problem, at least on my monitor. IMHO if you could crop off a bit more on the bottom, so the rock in the LRHC does not show, it gives a great feeling of openness. I really like seeing photos of lesser known creatures, thanks for sharing.

EXCEPTIONAL work here Vincent. I would have to say I enjoy everything about this image. The highlighting of a lesser known species, the great detail and colours and this image wonderfully shows these mammals in their beautiful natural habitat. To me, images such as these really draw the viewer in and hopefully create an interest in the vast diversity of species.
Well done.

Very cool idea Vincent. I actually like the results for this image. It reminds me a bit of being a kid and looking at an image on a View-Master and the 3D effect they gave. nice to see a few different types of images right off the bat between you and Onno. both of you thinking outside of the box. Always cool to see.

Nice comp with good eye catchlights. Your attempt to control background was successful, IMO.

I enjoy fauna photographs but never find myself commenting on them. This photo caught my attention right away when I saw the thumbnail photo because of the BG. IMO your choice of the narrow aperture to bring out the element of the BG makes this a wonderful photograph. Great job, just look at those specs, HH @ F/32 with an ISO of 2500. Digital photograph as brought us a long ways in the past decade.

Like the perspective here Vincent and the way this image is showing the habitat..great to see high ISO performance of MK IV...the subject looks soft...may take a bit more sharpening IMO...

Incredible shot of a species that I've never even heard of before, really excellent work Vincent!

Hi Vincent,

I find this image very interesting, and not just on the creative side. It's no secret that I like the technical end of photography as much as the creative end, and despite huge gains in ISO performance (and thus enhanced control over our aperture and depth of field), this image points out how gains in one area often present us with another challenge to overcome. In this case the high ISO capabilities of your camera gave you access to apertures you couldn't have thought of using in the recent past. BUT, in choosing that aperture you ran into ANOTHER barrier, and my guess is that diffraction issues raised their head and the result is that the subjects are a little (just a little) soft! So now that we have wonderful ISO performance, we need better lenses (or re-designed sensors that better mitigate diffraction effects)! Will it ever stop?

On the creative side...I definitely like that entire ledge is rendered quite sharply - that works really well for me and highlights how these little rats are up on a rock or cliff. In a perfect world I think I'd prefer the background mountain a little softer, simply to make the subjects stand out a little more (on the "standard" image size they don't pop out quite enough for my taste). I wasn't there, so I'm not sure there would have been any aperture available where you could have kept the foreground (the full ledge) sharp but thrown the distant background a little more out-of-focus (my guess is that it wouldn't be possible). So I guess we need that new "vari-aperture" function where we specify different apertures for different portions of the image and let the on-board computer in the camera produce the composite image!

Cheers...very interesting image and topic - thanks for bringing it up...

Brad

I was expecting you to bring up the diffraction issue Brad! And yes of course diffraction occurs and has an effect. I kept also a frame at f/16 which is (not surprisingly) sharper than the one at f/32 at a similar SS. However, the image is still sharp enough to be usable. Can't wait for break through developments in lens technology though!

Wonderful shot, Vincent. I love the depth that the small aperture has given this image. Nice work.

I think this image, like most of your photographs, is not only a beautiful and a non conventional shot of animals (in this case even the species is not common): it is also a little lesson of "school of photography", and it provides inspiration and food for thought for nature photographers.
Thank you

Marco

Thank you Vincent for a thought provoking image and post. I must admit that I haven't had the nerve to set the ISO that high in real life situations but I'm getting more convinced that it really is workable.

Peter

I keep coming back to this shot. And back and back. Hence, the very late comment.
This may be the very first photograph that I've viewed here that absolutely needs to be viewed larger, full size. At that aspect, it answered every question I had about the merit of the shot and why it was cropped/framed as it was.
As a proponent and practitioner of deep DOF, it naturally appealed.
The composition that emphasized the rats was great and expected.
The depth that brought in the distant mountains and context, absolutely wonderful and added an environmental energy that would have been lost with "proper and standard" blur.
What bothers me: the continuation of the OOF shelf of rock at bottom right - in front of the green. Two choices. If the green were not there, I would not have noticed. If the brown section were there, I would not have noticed.
It cannot be cropped because that incredible piece of luminous shale under the rats reflects back up and is also a focus. Clone? Dull down? Crop (shudder)?
Also,noise. The noise in the BG is very bothersome. I could deal with then oise in the distant mountains, but not the noisy,sooty sky. So simple.

What brings me back and would have me publish this?
The tones and composition. Simply, the tones are exquisite.
The slight slash of dull red/orange/warmth just beyond the foreground ledge in the BG mountains, echoed in the wedge of red/orange/warmth just behind the first rat, which is furter echoed and sprayed from nose to eyes in the rats and then drips down in the shale pieces beneath them.

For me? Brilliant. Just Brilliant.

I have enjoyed looking over the technical comments and have definitely been taken to school with all the great input. I especially like how these two critters are perched on the edge of what looks to be a steep cliff. I like how this photo makes me feel like I need to hold on or I might fall off the edge of the mountain. What an amazing feeling the depth of field creates– This is a great thought provoking shot ! Well done…

It's all been said, so I'll just say: hope you enjoyed Namibia, looking forward to seeing more!

Your experiment turned out extremely well...Beautiful setting and handsome subjects.