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Eating or Playing?
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Eating or Playing?

by Peter Cross

Gallery: WildlifePosted August 29, 201296 views3 comments
This golden-mantled ground squirrel looks to be either eating a morsel or playing the harmonica. I vote for #1. Taken near Bear Valley, CA in the Sierra Mtns. at about 7000 ft. These squirrels are quite the little clowns around campgrounds and the like. Very active and energetic, they make me laugh at times. My wife and a friend went kayaking and another friend wandered up the lake to do some photography. I elected to stay around the boat/launch campground and see what I could do. This guy, a Douglas squirrel, and a chipmunk were all working the area, so there was no lack of opportunity. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice that there is a difference in the cropping of the two images. Both started from the same image but I forgot to save the 1st cropped image before resizing so had to sort of guess what I had done for the larger version. Comments and critiques welcomed and appreicated.

Tech info

Canon 60D and 70-200mm, f/4L at 154mm plus 1.4 TC
1/320th at f/8.0 and ISO 200
handheld

Comments

3 comments
Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on August 29, 2012 at 4:16 PM
Looks like a chipmunk that is tunneling through my yard. Small, cute and a real pest. I vote for playing as they have plenty to eat at a campground. Nice clean shot of the squirrel in its environment and the blurred uncluttered background sets him off nicely. :wavey:
Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments
Comment posted by Brad Hill on August 30, 2012 at 11:36 PM
Hi Peter,

Well, I had to accept the challenge and compare crops on the small and large versions of this shot - yep, very slightly different but would have NEVER noticed it if you didn't point it out (so remove me from the sharp-eyed viewer group! :wink:).

Detail on the squirrel looks very good, especially on the larger version of the image. Your depth of field works well for me, tho' in a perfect world I could do without that slightly out-of focus rock in the lower right portion of the frame. I like how you've positioned the subject in the frame and included all of the tail. I'm a bit torn on the lighting as presented - I don't really mind the bulk of the squirrel being in the shade (and there is some nice subtle lighting on the head region), but I'm thinking that if this image were mine I'd probably back off the exposure of the background (by at least 1/2 stop) - as presented it's a tad too bright (relative to the subject) for my taste.

Cheers...and thanks for sharing this cute little guy with us...

Brad
Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments
Comment posted by John Tobias on August 31, 2012 at 10:41 AM
Nice shot Peter. I do enjoy seeing good photos of these guys. They are very entertaining. thanks for sharing.
Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments