On the Lookout

Gallery: WildlifePosted August 30, 2014142 views10 comments

Hi all! Josiah, Jenaya and I have been trying to show a little lens love to the smaller critters in our neck of the woods this summer, and I have to say there's worse ways to spend your time then trying to capture the poses and antics of ground squirrels! I thought I'd post this one in part because I like the combination of a very cooperative Columbian ground squirrel who jumped up on this stump right after I said, "I wish he'd get up on something for a clearer look at him!"

The second reason I'm posting this one is because I thought I'd share that if you get everything right on the techs and discipline end of things, I can't believe how well images from current higher resolution sensors can hold up to heavy cropping (particularly for web display)! I'm all for composing the image in the field and making the right comp decisions through the lens, but sometimes that's just not the way it works out and you aren't able to compose it the way you want to for any number of reasons (often safety of both the subject or photographer, or in this case, a moment witnessed before I got into position!). So, I thought I'd see how far I could go, and the result is the image here is just under 12% of the original file from my D600.

EDIT: after posting I'm not as pleased with the auto-resized 720px version here as I was/am with the 1200px original (somewhat surprising given the crop) so please view the larger version if you have time.

I would not normally squeeze the subject quite this far to the side even though I'm a big fan of open/"negative" space, but I didn't want to clone out some very distracting branches behind the ground squirrel so chose this comp as a compromise.

Thanks in advance for your time and comments.

Nikon D600
Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/2.8 IF-ED VR
ISO 400
1/400sec @ f/4.5
handheld

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on August 30, 2014 at 6:17 PM

That's a pretty good looking photo even at 12% of the original. You've got a lot of pixels with that D600 and this is a great way to show that. The photo itself is very nice. Even though they're small they are definitely hard to get to stop for more than a second or two. Doing any kind of squirrel properly is a tough assignment. Certainly helps here that you have a nice BG and an interesting perch. Colors are real nice and the detail in it's coat would make me happy on a non-cropped image. Let's see some more of these "lesser" critters.

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

Comment posted by Max Waugh on August 30, 2014 at 9:02 PM

John, I think the composition is just fine. Really nice colors here. The environment complements the squirrel nicely. I like how the gray of the stump even echoes the slight gray patches of fur on the rodent.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Jake Dingel on August 30, 2014 at 9:13 PM

Nice photo, but I believe it is a Columbian Ground Squirrel, looks like the ones I saw in Glacier NP. Golden Mantled ground squirrels have two white stripes bordered by black stripes on its sides.

Registered on April 24, 2006, 34 Posts, 633 Comments

Comment posted by John Launstein on August 30, 2014 at 10:58 PM

Oops! Thanks, Jake! I made the correction. Good grief, I knew that...was processing a sweet shot Jenaya got of a golden-mantled GS and apparently it was on my mind when I posted this! Thanks again!

Registered on April 5, 2011, 223 Posts, 1193 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on August 31, 2014 at 5:23 PM

Looks great to me John, excellent composition and nice soft lighting.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on September 1, 2014 at 8:53 AM

Hi John,

I love shooting the small guys around our home - interesting and rewarding in itself and great practice for when you do have the opportunity to go after the bigger guys. There's no doubt that with higher res sensors the ability to crop more aggressively presents itself. I know of photographers who have bought D800-series cameras (36 MP sensors) primarily because it gave them more opportunity to crop images (and it was cheaper than buying a super-telephoto lens). I personally have no issue at all with cropping - it has always been done and it is self-limiting - even the sharpest image on the planet loses quality if cropped beyond 1:1 (meaning that some pixel-creation has been done in the process). The recent trend to high-resolution displays (e.g., Retina displays and 4K displays) is beginning to counter-balance the enhanced ability to crop with the high-res sensors (they require more native pixels to show images at their best)...will be interesting to see where that trend goes...

I like the dark background behind the squirrel - definitely helps make it pop. The uniformity of the greens and near-blacks in the background also makes the greyish patch just to the left of the squirrel's lower back stand out more too (you can't win for trying, eh?). I agree with your assessment that the squirrel is perhaps a bit too squeezed left, but understand your rationale for positioning it there.

Cheers...keep the little dudes coming!

Brad

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

Comment posted by Oscar Benavides on September 1, 2014 at 5:58 PM

I love it. I agree with Brad about the background and agree with you about the position of the squirrel and not to cut the branches. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on January 2, 2011, 12 Posts, 141 Comments

Comment posted by John Launstein on September 1, 2014 at 6:21 PM

Thanks for the additional comments, Nate, Brad and Oscar! Brad, I flinched at the OOF grey behind the ground squirrel as well, but in the end decided it wasn't a deal-breaker. I've been posting images that are 100% FF more and more, so this was a complete pendulum swing but I thought it was worth sharing, if only to suggest you don't have to have a D800-series to crop if that's the hand you were dealt in the field.

Thanks again!

Registered on April 5, 2011, 223 Posts, 1193 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on September 2, 2014 at 12:07 AM

It is really cool how he decided to cooperate on the stump and offer such a good pose! Techs look fine. He looks really good against the dark background. In terms of composition, (subjective!) I would prefer the subject a little more to the right or with a bit less negative space on the right.

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on September 3, 2014 at 11:30 AM

Nice to see such a good image of one of the smaller guys. IMHO your exposure and comp are right on. The little bit of grey blur is a bit distracting, but not too much. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments