Vixen in the Wind

Gallery: WildlifePosted July 21, 2014244 views7 comments

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't been posting very many pictures lately! I've been busy photographing, but I hope to be active on NPN once again! I've got tons of images to show! Here's one from a few weeks ago in Waterton Lakes National Park. We had just pulled up to the fox den when we spotted a couple kits playing near their den. I immediately got my camera ready and sat down on the ground. I started photographing the kits as they pounced and chased each other. All the sudden, the mother appeared and brought a snack for them.They swarmed their mother and started licking and snuggling with her. Eventually, one of the young foxes left to eat his food. The mother then started walking straight toward us. She stopped and looked right at us! After that, she came a little closer and sat down in front of us. I didn't think she would get more comfortable than that, but I was wrong! She laid down and started resting! My dad and I think that she was trying to take a little break from her kids and wanted a nap without being pounced on ;) .

I really like the way the wind is blowing her coat in this image.

Thanks for lookin' !

Baby fox pictures coming soon!

Nikon D7100
Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 IF-ED VR lens
ISO 450
1/1250sec @ f/4
Handheld laying on the ground
85% of original
Nik Viveza used to slightly desaturate the background.

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on July 21, 2014 at 7:33 AM

I really like the look on her face and the wind blown fur. My only nit is the crop. Perhaps a bit more room up top and a little less centered if you have the canvass. Nice capture.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Jenaya Launstein on July 21, 2014 at 2:33 PM

Thanks for the comment, Jerry! We actually kept it centered because we felt it kinda added a cool mood to the image. When we cropped her less centered, that mood seemed to leave the image.

Thank you for your input!

Registered on February 8, 2011, 254 Posts, 1302 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on July 22, 2014 at 12:49 AM

A nice pretty vixen Jenaya. The windblown fur is a nice way to show her in reality and not picture perfect fur-do. The colors are nice and the soft FG & BG help to show her off. I wonder if her behavior was a way to divert attention form her pups and put herself between you and then. Whatever the reason, this is a nice portrait I look forward to pictures of the kids.

Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on July 22, 2014 at 10:55 AM

Hi Jenaya,

Good to hear you're doing a lot of shooting and real nice to see you posting here again! I think I notice some new equipment too!

Like Jerry I really like the look on the face of the fox and I really like its pelage - that rim of white (or lighter coloured) fur surrounding the face is really nice. I also like the dynamic nature and "feel" that's generated by the winding conditions - nice! I also quite like the colours here - they definitely feel natural and certainly not over-saturated (though I am curious what it would have looked like had you not desaturated the background - just out of curiosity).

I tend to agree with Jerry on the crop - too me it feels a bit too tight on top. I'm not sure of the rationale for going towards the slightly pano look - to me this image would work really well at the native 3:2 aspect ratio of the camera (and in this case I'd simple add the pixels back on the top of the image without removing anything on the bottom). Personally I think this might be a little stronger if the subject was pulled very slightly to the right (just a tad). BTW: I'm not at all a "traditionalist" on crop ratios but there's so much "crop to match subject" happening nowadays that I find it refreshing when someone works with the aspect ratio of the camera!

Looking forward to seeing more images soon!

Cheers...

Brad

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

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on July 22, 2014 at 4:08 PM

Sweet angle, soft light and love the windswept coat here!

Registered on March 22, 2011, 385 Posts, 2068 Comments

Comment posted by Jenaya Launstein on July 22, 2014 at 8:15 PM

Thanks everyone for the comments!

Brad and Jerry - we cropped the top pretty tight because the road behind her got really distracting, so cropping it like this made it look more like the sky than the road. It helped to keep our eyes on the fox rather than the distracting road in the background.

Registered on February 8, 2011, 254 Posts, 1302 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on July 22, 2014 at 10:23 PM

Love the soft natural colors in this shot Jenaya. I also think it feels a bit tight on the tope and would move this back to a 3:2 ratio. I might also be tempted to move the fox just a very tiny bit right if you add move canvas to the top.

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments