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Before the storm
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Before the storm

by John Tobias

Gallery: WildlifePosted February 28, 2014128 views5 comments
Driving through Funks Grove I noticed squirrels everywhere, bushy tails swishing in the wind as they dashed about. Perhaps they knew a major storm was headed to central Illinois and they needed to prepare.

Canon PS SX50
1/250 @ F-8 ISO400
flash -3 as fill

Comments

5 comments
Comment posted by Jerry Austin on February 28, 2014 at 9:56 PM
I like the pose of this guy. My only nit is the white background spots. It detracts a bit from the image. It probably made correct exposure tricky also.
Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments
Comment posted by Peter Cross on February 28, 2014 at 10:59 PM
Great pose from this guy, John. Alert, curious, and not taking any chances. Exposure looks good and you've got some nice detail in the fur. I agree about the patches of snow. After the storm maybe it was all white so not an issue now.
Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments
Comment posted by William Bickle on March 1, 2014 at 8:42 AM
Hello John

Sharp and detailed head with those prominent whiskers well displayed. Yes I agree about the very bright snow patches being a distraction. Difficult in winter when dull overcast days with high contrast snow in background.

Bill
Registered on June 13, 2011, 183 Posts, 1702 Comments
Comment posted by Rick Cloran on March 1, 2014 at 11:00 AM
A very nice pose on this guy. The detail in the larger view shows well. I'd try running a single image HDR tone mapping on it just to see how much it can pull out of the squirrel. I find the HDR engines do a better job than basic Shadow / Highlight as long as you remember to pull the saturation level back to realistic and add back a little contrast. You may have to mask it out on the snow if it gives you a case of the flat grays there. Too bad those patches were sun lit, but you have to take what you have when the opportunity presents itself.
Registered on April 6, 2004, 119 Posts, 1989 Comments
Comment posted by Ingrid Vekemans on March 2, 2014 at 2:10 PM
Great pose…the sharpness is good, but I think I would sharpen it a little bit more.
Grt, Ingrid.
Registered on August 2, 2010, 138 Posts, 780 Comments