Hello there!

Gallery: WildlifePosted February 20, 2014111 views5 comments

On the campus of University of Louisiana in Lafayette, we have a man made swamp…complete with alligators, birds and squirrels…lots of squirrels. I love to go there and see what will appear. One day this squirrel ran right by me and up a tree, but paused half way up to peek at me. It was as though he purposely stopped to pose for me.

Canon 40D ISO 800 f/6/3 1/400

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Rebecka on February 21, 2014 at 12:04 AM

Love the playful pose of this squirrel, and the alert look about him, and how he's focused intently at the viewer. Really fun image, and nice details in the face, eye, whiskers and claws. It appears he may have had some berries for breakfast?

Registered on February 5, 2009, 170 Posts, 924 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on February 21, 2014 at 3:30 PM

Nice close-up of this little guy. Looks very sharp where it counts.

Registered on May 18, 2004, 124 Posts, 2503 Comments

Comment posted by Zeralda La Grange on February 22, 2014 at 2:45 AM

Thank you so very much Robert!

Registered on December 5, 2013, 11 Posts, 11 Comments

Comment posted by Zeralda La Grange on February 22, 2014 at 2:46 AM

Thank you Rebecka! He may have very well had berries. These rascals are quick and get around campus.

Registered on December 5, 2013, 11 Posts, 11 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on February 22, 2014 at 10:55 PM

Hi Zeralda,

Nice intense stare here - it would be tough to have more intense eye contact! With almost any animal I really it when the claws are included in the image - just one more thing to draw the viewer's attention and make them pause and examine the image for a little more time. So...love that the claws on TWO paws are shown here. I think the squirrel is well-positioned in the frame and the cropping choice is quite appropriate to the subject matter.

I'm sure it would have been real tough to avoid on this shot, but if there was any way to get rid of those uber-bright hot spots in the background (or perhaps even tint them another colour in post-processing), if you could I think it would have strengthened this image even more. To me this is the main challenge when shooting any arboreal mammal (and many species of birds). But I do have to say that you handled the exposure on the subject quite well with such "patchy" lighting.

Cheers...thanks for sharing this!

Brad

PS: Don't hesitate to jump in and comment on the images of others. The recommended NPN image post: comment ratio of 1 to 5 (as per the Posting Guidelines) can be hard to maintain, but it gets even harder as you post more and more images (without commenting on those of others!).

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments