Surprise!

Gallery: WildlifePosted October 5, 2011197 views15 comments

Canon EOS 7D, EF 500mm f/4L IS USM, Aperture Priority @ f/8 (1/100 sec), -2/3 EV, ISO 400, Tripod, JPEG from RAW, Copped about 25% from Full Frame

Sportive Lemurs are a species of nocturnal Lemur and with eyes this large are well-equipped to see and in the dark. While searching around a spiny tree forest in southern Madagascar looking for birds and more Sifaka, we came across a couple of these much smaller Sportive Lemurs. Judging by it's expression, I'm not sure who was more surprised by the unexpected encounter ;^)

Critique and comments always welcome.

Comments

15 comments

Comment posted by David Sewell on October 5, 2011 at 4:07 AM

I had always wondered why they were called sportive lemurs. Having seen one myself, I now know they are long jump specialists.

You have captured the permanently surprised look to perfection.

David

Registered on September 10, 2008, 63 Posts, 801 Comments

Comment posted by Shantikara Valuska on October 5, 2011 at 8:16 AM

Gorgeous!!!

Registered on July 25, 2011, 38 Posts, 451 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on October 5, 2011 at 8:18 AM

Ahley,

This lloks so much better in the larger image, I would however try and renove as much as possible of the tree trunk as long as the crop does not become to thin.

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on October 5, 2011 at 12:54 PM

Beautiful portrait n stunning eyes !
I haven't seen Lemure so can't really comment, but in case you've brightened the eyes, they may need to be toned down.
Jagdeep Rajput

Registered on April 29, 2008, 686 Posts, 2857 Comments

Comment posted by Arthur Tiutenko on October 5, 2011 at 1:51 PM

A very interesting animal, Ashley! It is much more rarely photographed than sifakas, and you've got an excellent photo of this lemur.

I'd agree with Ken suggesting to crop off the trunk a little bit.

Registered on July 9, 2009, 9 Posts, 95 Comments

Comment posted by Anand Narayanan on October 5, 2011 at 2:00 PM

Gorgeous portrait

nothing I would change.

Print this BIIIGGGG ! Might startle a few

Registered on October 25, 2009, 110 Posts, 835 Comments

Comment posted by Ray Whitt on October 5, 2011 at 10:20 PM

Wonderful Ashley, great pose and I like the composition,

Ray

Registered on May 27, 2011, 92 Posts, 2619 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on October 5, 2011 at 10:45 PM

Great composition. The "V" of the tree really aim the focus on the eyes.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on October 6, 2011 at 12:25 AM

Excellent portrait of this lovely creature Ashley. The composition with the V shaped spiny tree trunk and more trunks in the BG makes this a winner. A pity it needed such a heavy crop to achieve this though, it doesn't leave you with many pixels for a large print.

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on October 6, 2011 at 7:48 AM

Nicely done! It looks like you were working with back lighting and came up with a good detailed image. I could go either way about cropping more off the trunk. Thanks for sharing, those eyes are so neat!

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on October 7, 2011 at 3:30 AM

Thanks for your thoughts and comments David, Shantikara, Ken, Jagdeerp, Arthur, Anand, Ray, Richard, Vincent, and John :^)

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on October 8, 2011 at 11:12 AM

Nice comp on this one Ashley. I like the "V" shape of the tree leading up to the lemur. I do wish for more DOF and the V was not sharp, but also not so out of focus....being so out of focus, it sort of distracts for me personally because I find my eyes draw to the pattern first and lead me up to the Lemur (if that makes sense). LOVE his eyes!