Mousing Around

Probably more a "Man & Nature" gallery image. Technically, I think it is well done. "cruel or inappropriate?" I think not. Nature is, well, nature. "Hand of man?" Certainly, but not your hand. I say: "Well done."

This is pretty cool, Ashleigh. I personally think that it can be considered wildlife, as the mom played a part in it.

"Hand of man" does not disqualify a wildlife gallery image. That said, I feel the mouse trap moves this from a pure nature scene into an interesting documentary type capture. I think you can pull back on the exposure about a third for the main subjects and the foreground.

Ashleigh,
As far as the subject matter, this is very interesting and goes to show just how darn smart and creative a mother fox these two have. The animal kingdom in general is constantly having to reinvent ways of surviving in a world of reduced habitat. As far as the image, Outstanding! The head-on POV, the detail and the action are all excellent. Overall it does appear a bit bright on my monitors but only slightly.
There is a third point to this image that should not be overlooked however, and that is the poor Rancher who is trying to figure out why all his moose traps keep disappearing.

Hey Ashleigh,

Given that a man-made object is at the heart of this image (and not just a background element), I would argue that the BEST gallery to put this in is "Man & Nature". But, as Lon said, there's definitely no guideline or rule that would exclude you from legitimately posting it here. Mind you, if mother fox put the traps out and was the photographer, well...we'd have a serious bating issue to discuss! But I'm thinking you're clear on that. And I certainly have no problem with it being here...

On the technical side: I'm in agreement with Lon that the image seems a bit over-exposed, but certainly not so much so that it's a major problem or couldn't be corrected.

In terms of the content: Cruel and inappropriate? I suspect the mouse thinks so. I do hope that this fascinating and innovative behaviour by mom (no wonder foxes are so successful) doesn't produce a food association between the kits and humans - carnivores almost always come out on the short end of the stick when that happens. And, I also hope that the kits don't get any collateral damage from eating from the trips (e.g., munching on wood bits from the trap or inadvertently swallowing a staple or spring).

But at the end of the day it's pretty cool documentation of an interesting bit of behaviour - good for you for capturing it!

Cheers...

Brad

Hi -

I opened my original file and saw that in my RAW conversion I had bumped the exposure a little and also the shadows to lighten the left kit's face. Instead, this time I left both alone and did minor dodging of the left kit's eyes. I think the exposure is better now.

Thanks!

Edit: Oh, well now that I see it online it kind of looks the same as the original. I'll spend more time on it, I get it. Thanks and sorry!

Hold on Ashleigh,
I've been rolling back and forth between the post and repost till I'm dizzy and the repost is better IMO.

Very cool behavior, Ashleigh. I'm not sure about the exposure issue-the mouse trap looks just about right and I've seen more of those than kit foxes, however the repost is more pleasing.