I was bumping around Rocky Flats this morning - a little bit lost - and saw a black ball in a tree. Binoculars revealed that it was a porcupine. I made this image with an 80-400mm lens, pretty closeup. This is the first time I've been able to shoot one of these guys without a bunch of twigs in front of his face. They always seem to be way up in an old cottonwood.
Very cool. I've never seen a porcupine in the wild. In your original, cropped, version the porcupine's eye appears to be the central focus. In the uncropped version my eye is drawn more to the branch and the bright lower right corner. I like the first version a little better, but the second version seems like it had some more sharpening done to it which I think improves the image. Nice discovery!
Great capture, Dave! These guys are tough to get a good angle on, and your angle is awesome. Getting a shot of their eye is tough. They are usually busy waddling away from me whenever I happen upon them.
Posted by Todd Caudle on April 6, 2009 at 11:57 PM
Great shot! The blue sky adds so much pleasantness to the overall feel of the image.
Discussion
12 repliesI was bumping around Rocky Flats this morning - a little bit lost - and saw a black ball in a tree. Binoculars revealed that it was a porcupine. I made this image with an 80-400mm lens, pretty closeup. This is the first time I've been able to shoot one of these guys without a bunch of twigs in front of his face. They always seem to be way up in an old cottonwood.
I tried to eliminate the branch as much as possible, but this shows more of the animal and maybe more of the story.