Careful

Gallery: WildlifePosted May 5, 2011177 views12 comments

This fox kit was far more cautious than its sibling and took longer to warm up to me today. I visited the fox den this afternoon after being gone for about 10 days and saw nothing. . . didn't notice any fresh tracks or scat either. I'm guessing they have outgrown that den and moved permanently to the larger den complex in the woods. Anyone with more knowledge on their behavior please weigh in, thank you.

Nikon D300s 300 f4 + 1.7X TC HH
f/7.1
1/1000s
ISO 320
-.33 EC

Cropped to 72%, minor clone job to remove the tail of the sibling, smart sharpen and USM, noise reduction on BG to further soften the bokeh all in CS5 on 27" iMac

- Luke

Comments

12 comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on May 6, 2011 at 12:23 AM

Luke, I think you got a nice image here. As soon as I openned it, it made me chuckle. As to the use of dens, I'm not a red fox expert, but San Joaquin kit foxes in Calif. have multiple dens which they move around to. They also have a natal or pupping den which is their most important den. The pups are born there and raised for a while till they move to another den. Of course some natural occurence can also cause them to move. I suspect red foxes probably have some variation on that theme.

Peter

Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments

Comment posted by Marsel van Oosten on May 6, 2011 at 7:36 AM

I guess cute is appropriate word here.

Just the right amount of DOF and you've got to love that look. The position of the ears is perfect, the front legs could have been better. I'd tone down a few of the brighter elements in the background, and clone out the bright spot touching the hind leg.

Registered on March 9, 2004, 285 Posts, 2277 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on May 6, 2011 at 9:14 AM

Marsel said,

and clone out the bright spot touching the hind leg.

Hmm. . . not sure I'd want to clone out the white tip of the fox kits tail!

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on May 6, 2011 at 12:34 PM

Very high on cuteness scale !!!
Like the timid expressions on fox kit.
Jagdeep Rajput

Registered on April 29, 2008, 686 Posts, 2857 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on May 6, 2011 at 1:22 PM

Adorable Luke!

The low angle makes this very intimate. The (adjusted

) DOF is fine here, but the darker OOF grasses above its ear are slightly distracting IMO.I would recommend not to clone out the tail tip

.
I am absolutely not a red fox expert either, but do know that bat-eared foxes for example already forage for themselves (still with the parents around) at 5-6 weeks old and certainly move around to other den sites.

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Marsel van Oosten on May 6, 2011 at 4:04 PM

Hmm. . . not sure I'd want to clone out the white tip of the fox kits tail!

LOL

That's what you get if you're working on a laptop in bright daylight. I'd keep the tail in.

Registered on March 9, 2004, 285 Posts, 2277 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on May 6, 2011 at 9:20 PM

That's a great pose from a "not particularly happy" youngster. I like the sand stuck in its fur.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on May 7, 2011 at 3:03 AM

Can't help but smile when looking at this Luke, very nice capture indeed :^)

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments

Comment posted by Guy Runco on May 7, 2011 at 10:37 PM

Nice capture Luke - looks like extremely harsh light, well handled.

Registered on September 9, 2008, 77 Posts, 705 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on May 8, 2011 at 8:34 AM

Hey Luke,

I'll state the obvious again - very high cuteness factor! Techs look good and I think overall you did a good job isolating the kit from what could have been a very distracting background. If the image were mine I'd experiment with darkening the foreground sand a little (and perhaps adjusting the contrast in it as well) - when I look at the larger version I see the hints of more foreground detail and I think bringing some of it out would be beneficial. But this is a very minor tweak and as posted the image is quite pleasing and super-cute.

Cheers...thanks for sharing this one...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Luca Mussato on May 8, 2011 at 11:26 AM

Hi Luke,
the pup stands out right. I must agree with Vincent about the OOF grass above its ears and with Brad suggestion about the FG sand. About the White tail tip, I dare say that it is not easy to assign it to the tail saw that it is not well distinguishable from the rest of the body, maybe an intervention (darken?) only on that area to separate it from the rest may help.

Hope this make sense,
Luca

Registered on November 14, 2006, 118 Posts, 855 Comments

Comment posted by Ian Haskell on May 13, 2011 at 6:38 PM

Oh wow, that is a really lovely captured shot. I love the tones in the shot.

Ian

Registered on October 30, 2008, 24 Posts, 673 Comments