Well the summer is on its way and today was in the high 20's,The Ibex have decided to shed their winter coats and are in the scruffy moulting stage so i will leave them for a couple of weeks,The Fox is my favorite UK mammal and always jump at the chance of getting some images so have been scouring the local woodland and found an earth,Last week driving by to check it there was a fox with young on a tree stump so that made my mind up to get something i had always wanted-fox cub images,I had managed young fox before but always seemed to get them past the cub stage,so have been doing the early 4.30 am shift and late up to midnight shift for the last few days and this evening they came out mother first who left the 2 cubs to have a play in front of me,The light was nearly gone so had to shoot at ISO800 and use noise ninja to calm the image down
Canon 1d2 500mmF4 wide open 1/60
A classic fox cub pose Dave, showing their curiousness to the full.
Methinks that you were at the very limits of your 500 when shooting this one. It's credit to you that the shot looks acceptable, although I'm not sure it's 100%sharp.
Cute shot Dave - as they're looking towards you, presumably this is part of a few shots you'd taken together?
Not the limits of the 500 John, I've had sharp shots down to 1/20 handheld with the straight 500. Dave, I think you might need to try and get the set-up a bit more rigidly supported. If you used a tripod & head, make sure you're locked down & possibly add a heavy beanbag over the pivot point to try and dampen out any vibration from the mirror slap - possibly even a 2 second mirror lock-up may help.
Well done for putting in the hours though - you're better at getting up than I am .
Hi John and Nick
The image is actually sharp i have just printed it at A4 and it shows the LH cub is pin sharp and the RH a little soft due to using F4 i did shoot some at 5.6 but all are in the bin,I will go back tomorrow evening and if they come out late will try the beanbag on the lens,I managed about 130 shots of these 2 tonight so have plenty together,single and playing
Its a super image, but does look a bit soft as presented..... just a thought here as you used Noise Ninja, did you use the noise brush to bring back the detail in the cubs? I find it just a shade awkward to use due to the size of the window you have to work with so I generally do noise reduction on a separate layer with a mask for the detail or if I am in a hurry I will simply use the history brush to bring back the detail.
Really like this image and looking forward to seeing more.
Dave,
A nice shot and given the low light levels well done.
Lovely quizzical look on the faces and caught at their cute stage.
I agree with other comments about the apparent sharpness but perhaps a little boost to the contrast of the image may help? The flat lighting reduces the contrast and at web presentation sizes I have found it is sometimes difficult to show fine detail.
Well done Dave! Always nice to get your first fox cub shots in the bag. Locely alert pose... looks like the '2nd frame' look to me... the one where the foxes go "What the hell was that noise!?" Nice window into the foxes private world created by the framing foliage.
Hi Dave,well done, early morning and late evening starts paid off,well looks sharp on my screen but if I open it up in photoshop looks a lot better than as presented on the web,very nice composition........like it a lot
Discussion
13 repliesCanon 1d2 500mmF4 wide open 1/60
Methinks that you were at the very limits of your 500 when shooting this one. It's credit to you that the shot looks acceptable, although I'm not sure it's 100%sharp.
John
Not the limits of the 500 John, I've had sharp shots down to 1/20 handheld with the straight 500. Dave, I think you might need to try and get the set-up a bit more rigidly supported. If you used a tripod & head, make sure you're locked down & possibly add a heavy beanbag over the pivot point to try and dampen out any vibration from the mirror slap - possibly even a 2 second mirror lock-up may help.
Well done for putting in the hours though - you're better at getting up than I am
John
The image is actually sharp i have just printed it at A4 and it shows the LH cub is pin sharp and the RH a little soft due to using F4 i did shoot some at 5.6 but all are in the bin,I will go back tomorrow evening and if they come out late will try the beanbag on the lens,I managed about 130 shots of these 2 tonight so have plenty together,single and playing
John
Aberdeen
Paul
NL/Rotterdam
Really like this image and looking forward to seeing more.
A nice shot and given the low light levels well done.
Lovely quizzical look on the faces and caught at their cute stage.
I agree with other comments about the apparent sharpness but perhaps a little boost to the contrast of the image may help? The flat lighting reduces the contrast and at web presentation sizes I have found it is sometimes difficult to show fine detail.
I think this is a great shot - love the format, the way the cubs have that curious look and the OOF FG. I like everything about it!
David
Baz
Dave
Forest of Dean, UK
You are certainly going to be busy this summer, great shot can,t wait to see more
Dan