Woodland Badger

Have shaken off the sadness at the loss of one of the badger cubs and pressed on. I've had a couple of fairly quiet evenings with just a couple of cubs popping out to feed. For the first time in a month, I have had proper sunny evenings and, as the sett is west facing, the light that is falling here is gorgeous.

This cub was just a little late as the warm light had passed on to the bank behind (the orange/yellow glow). Will keep trying here for a while as I love the combination of the long grass, mossy log, and light.

Particularly interested in your thoughts on composition here and whether the badger is big enough in the frame. There isn't really enough light for me to get more DOF, but I would have liked more detail in the background.

Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D
Shutter speed: 1/60 sec
Aperture: f/2.8
Exposure mode: Av
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Evaluative
ISO: 800
Lens: EF300mm f/2.8L IS USM
AF mode: AI Servo AF
White balance: Color temp=4600K
Picture effect: Faithful
Color space: AdobeRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: 0
Contrast: Normal
Sharpness level: 0

the badger is plenty large enough in the frame, but for this i think a more classic pose might suit

Nice habitat shot,

one minor nit is that it looks over saturated, the greens are very sickly on my screen

Lovely enviro shot. I agree with Jack that a better pose from the badger might have improved it, but it's a small nit in my book.

Cheers,

Dan.

one minor nit is that it looks over saturated, the greens are very sickly on my screen

I haven't added any saturation to it. The image is as shot from camera. Should be the same as the all the others... maybe it is the sunlight, I know I am not used to it

I think the composition works very well here but I do wish that the badger didnt have the tree in the background as the badger would stand out much better against the grass. If the tree wasnt there though then I'd say the composition would require changing a little. I wonder if this would also work cropped into more of a pano shape? I absolutely love the way you use out of focus grass in the foreground - it adds so much depth to the image. Good stuff as always. Tristan

Another cracker Elliott, and looking at those tech specs it just goes to show the capabilities of equipment in low light these days.



Mark

I don't think you really need any more definition behind the badger, it would surely only serve to make it stand out less. I like the DoF as is - focussing the eye on the log and the badger.
I agree with Mike about the greens. Perhaps it just seems strange to see all these badgers out in the sunshine.
Whatever, its a lovely shot.
Eric

Hi Elliott,

Another cracking Badger capture!