Marmot on Alert

Here's the second in a few images of that wonderfully cooperative yellow-bellied marmot in Yellowstone I introduced you to last week.

My kids and I were enjoying photographing this guy on various rocks and in all kinds of poses when he suddenly dove down between two boulders and then poked his head back out on full alert with his attention back to the west of us. We never saw what he thought he saw or sensed, and after a few moments he was back to his antics entertaining us on the boulder tops.

I like his alert expression and pose here, and just adore the way his paws appear as he uses them to balance. Aside from the cuteness of the marmot's pose, probably my favourite aspect of this image is the wonderful tones in his coat which are nicely mirrored in the background vegetation.

I did wrestle with the crop considerably. This is actually full-frame in terms of width, with the proportions just switched to 4X5 to take approximately equal amounts off the top and bottom. I really wanted to keep the full lower portion of the image as it makes the marmot appear to be taller as well as leaving more room for his virtual body, but the it's all just OOF boulders as well as a (slightly) distracting OOF twig, so in the end this seemed the best compromise. I also liked the way the grasses appeared at the top of the image behind him, but ultimately it felt like too much headroom and I guess they are less distracting as presented than as shot.

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Nikon D7000
Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4 IF-ED with TC-14EII teleconverter
ISO 400
1/320sec @ f/8
monopod
full-width with approximately equal amounts cropped from top and bottom

***NOTE: I really like the textures on the marmot's coat and lichen-covered boulder on the larger version...worth taking a look if you have time.