Sitting Pretty

Gallery: WildlifePosted July 23, 2014645 views8 comments

Here's another image of the female fox from Waterton Lakes National Park. We've known her for several years, and she always seems to get pretty worn out from her kits around June. This year, she decided that she'd use us as kind of a barrier. She would position herself so that we were between her and the kits. I think she knew that the kits weren't quite brave enough to come over to us. She would then proceed to lay down and take a nap!

In this image, she had just walked over to us and sat down. I believe she's looking at her kits, who were playing at the den. I think she has a really nice pose here, and I really like the wind blown look in her fur.

Thanks for lookin'!

Nikon D7100
Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 IF-ED VR lens
ISO 280
1/1250 @ f/4
Cropped to 85% of original
Nik Viveza
Nik Color Efex Pro
Nik DFine

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Thomas Haney on July 23, 2014 at 8:25 PM

Beautiful shot, I love her expression as well.

Registered on April 7, 2013, 138 Posts, 537 Comments

Comment posted by John Neukirch on July 23, 2014 at 9:06 PM

A beautiful image of a beautiful animal in a wonderful position. Techs look all top notch, very nice job!

Registered on July 9, 2012, 207 Posts, 1476 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on July 23, 2014 at 9:39 PM

Top notch capture. No nits from me.

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

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on July 24, 2014 at 3:51 PM

Now that's so fine, Jenaya! I like both the detail in the fox and the DOF that keeps everything else, almost, a blur.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on July 25, 2014 at 9:23 AM

Hi Jenaya,

Like with your last shot of this female I think that the particular markings on coat of this fox (especially on the neck and facial region) make this a really attractive subject. And, the windblown back region adds interest to the shot.

Given the lens you were using (which has excellent bokeh and performs exceptionally well when opened almost all the way up) and the fact that you've pretty much only got the fox in focus anyway, I'm wondering if it might have been an idea to open up the aperture even more and thus softened and "smoothed out" the background and foreground further? Something like f3.2? Just a thought...

Cheers...

Brad

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

Comment posted by John Launstein on July 26, 2014 at 9:46 PM

Hey, Jaye! This is such an appealing portrait! You've captured something of the vixen's character and mood here, and the overall colours, texture in her coat, comp and perspective combine to result in a powerful image. I can't say I'm not curious what this would have looked like with the lens opened up a little more as Brad suggested above, but you can't argue with how great this image looks exactly as-is. To be honest, she was close enough that I am not sure you could have kept the fur on her hip in focus through to her far ear as you have here at f/3.2 or less, so I'd say you erred on the side of caution and nailed it anyway!