Families That Play

Be out there at sunrise as they will most likely be active then. Best of luck!

Great Stuff!

Love the expression and the capture of the behavior Sally. Don't really see anyway you could improve on the comp for my tastes and I like the fact that your cropping the fg. I know these guys are fierce but they look pretty amiable here. Very nice image.

Pat

I like this shot more than your previous post because each badger is more defined. Too bad about the missed shot but I think you've done well here. I'm not good on the PS tech stuff though. Of course, Anthony's suggestion to go out even earlier is right on.

A hat trick!! You got all three. Very nice action/behavior. The light is nice, the exposure looks fine to me, all the faces are showing. I think you handled it well. Wish I was there too. A few questions if you know the answers. The one on the left looks bigger. Is that the mom? Do you know if there are more of them. Is there a dad around?

The one behind and to the right is mom. I am sure of this as during play, several times she ended up laying on her back and showing her stomach, proving she has recently been nursing. I have not seen a dad. In addition to mom, I have only seen the two young ones.

Hi Sally,

Very nice - lots to look at with this image. I think the crop works well and I personally can't see much I'd change in this image...great opportunity and you're making the most of it - well done. No need to worry about the "one that got away."

You said "I was wondering how to keep from blowing the whites vs the blacks."

You're probably already aware of this, but general rule of thumb is to expose for the highlights (i.e, not blowing them out) and then retrieve shadow detail during processing. How much shadow detail you can retrieve is related to several things, including the ISO of your original capture (lower ISO captures will allow more work on the shadow regions with more acceptable increases in shadow noise) and the quality of your image sensor. Bear in mind that some raw converters can pull back almost a full stop of "blown" highlights - so knowing how much highlight detail your raw converter can pull back on your raw files can help you judge just how much you can afford to "lose" during the capture (if you expose to the point where you can JUST bring back the highlight details, then you'll also retain more shadow detail). Hope this helps...

Cheers...

Brad

Wonderful scene Sally and a very fine image. Congrats on the EP.

Pat

Hi Sally!! Congrats on your EP!! How nice! I didn't mention before but great title too!

Hi Sally,

Good job on finding these elusive little beasts. And, you showed admirable determination in returning a number of times to capture several great shots. Not only did you document an interesting phase in the development of young badgers, you also did it very artfully! Well done Sally!

Congratulations - it's a hard-earned and well-deserved Pick of the Week!

Cheers...

Brad

Great action, congrats on the pick Sally!

You've been doing some great work with this rare opportunity, Sally. Congrats!!!

Ken Archer

Sorry I missed this one Sally ! How long did you spend watching these guys ? Bravo !!