Wide-angle pine marten

Just catching up on some processing and this cropped up from over a year ago now. Would have preferred a natural forest background but you take what you get with these elusive creatures! This time of year is best for martens in Scotland as the youngsters are venturing out for the first time.

Canon 1dsII, 17-40mm, ISO200, fill flash.

Peter Cairns
www.northshots.com

Works for me,like the fallen lichen on the floor and the wide angle reveals more of the surroundings which as you say is'nt natural scots pine but still looks wild enough to work.


Craig
www.craigchurchill.co.uk

Works very well for me - I'm so envious! I saw my first one last weekend - it crossed the road 10 yards in front of me and disappeared into some trees in somebody's garden. Needless to say, no time to get the camera out. I'll be knocking on the owner's door later though

A fine shot and the lichen covered trees are a very welcome addition to the scene.

Get back to the creative stuff Mr Cairns!

Technically, this is a good enough shot in its own right but for me it is missing some 'soul' - something your images usually have in spades. Maybe, as you point out, the habitat isn't quite on the money. That said, I'm sure it is the type of image that will do well commercially. I like the wide angle approach on a difficult species.

Cheers,
Chris

Great shot Peter but me too finds something not quite you (?)
I know it sounds daft but I don't like the bits of lichen. It looks like sprinkled confetti !
The Martin looks like he doesn't quite know what to do- but hey ! vwho am I to critiscise - never even seen one !!!
Cheers
johnR

Thanks for your comments. To be honest, I couldn't make my mind up about it either - that's probably why it took over a year to process!

Pete