Ermine

Gallery: WildlifePosted December 5, 2014285 views17 comments

Heading back to Yellowstone on Monday. Would sure love to have another good ermine encounter like this one from a couple years ago. In this case, it was a long-tailed weasel in its winter coat.

Canon 1DX
Canon 500mm f/4 IS
ISO 800
1/8000th
f/4
Hand-held

Next time I wouldn't shoot wide open (in Aperture Priority, my favored mode). At the time, I recall being paranoid about shutter speed while shooting a lightning fast subject hand-held. Because of the close proximity, the shorter DoF definitely reduced the amount of "keepers" from this encounter. Lesson learned!

Max

Comments

17 comments

Comment posted by Alberto Patiño on December 5, 2014 at 2:40 PM

very cute!! One could make the argument that there is too much empty white, but I think that this minimalist approach works perfectly in this case, to set the beautiful weasel in its environment. Great work!

Registered on December 2, 2014, 278 Posts, 1736 Comments

Comment posted by William Bickle on December 5, 2014 at 2:47 PM

Hello Max

Great Capture of this little guy!

We have some ermine around here but never been able to get anything of them yt, Too shy and too fast!

Cheers

Bill.

Registered on June 13, 2011, 183 Posts, 1702 Comments

Comment posted by Thomas Haney on December 5, 2014 at 3:48 PM

Awesome shot Max, these guys aren't easy to photograph. I'd try brightening the snow around the weasel so it's dark eyes and nose stand out more, just to see, although I love this as-is.

Registered on April 7, 2013, 138 Posts, 537 Comments

Comment posted by keith mitchell on December 5, 2014 at 4:34 PM

This I think is a superb image, must say I like all the snow and just a bit of the Mammal, makes me feel a bit cool looking at it.

Keith.

Registered on July 12, 2008, 127 Posts, 1735 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Zablotny on December 6, 2014 at 7:02 AM

Very cool image

! No nits here

..........................Jim

Registered on January 17, 2004, 705 Posts, 3594 Comments

Comment posted by David Bogener on December 6, 2014 at 7:44 PM

Nicely composed and exposed. I never, ever, catch these guys standing still! Nice work.

Registered on October 30, 2013, 417 Posts, 1255 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on December 7, 2014 at 1:49 AM

Max,
For me the "simplicity" works very well

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on December 7, 2014 at 8:25 AM

HI Max,

I really like this - subtle tone differences in the snow really add to the shot, especially the slightly darker/shaded snow to the left of the ermine. Nice composition. I like when negative space is effectively used (as in this shot) - some might argue for a slight crop off the top, but for me this one works well exactly as posted.

Agree that you could have lived with a slightly slower shutter speed!

Cheers...

Brad

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

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on December 7, 2014 at 11:36 AM

I remember well the images you posted of this guy. Your white on whites look great. I wish you spectacular luck this coming season in replicating similar encounters!

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

Comment posted by Richard Olsen on December 7, 2014 at 4:24 PM

Very nice photograph Max!

Registered on October 19, 2006, 306 Posts, 1571 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on December 7, 2014 at 8:46 PM

Thanks, folks. Fingers crossed for some good sightings this coming week.

Max

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

Comment posted by Richard Sandor on December 8, 2014 at 6:17 PM

Max: many deservedly good things have been said about this photo. It's a great example of "less is more". Richard

Registered on January 12, 2014, 453 Posts, 1625 Comments

Comment posted by Sandipan Dutta on December 9, 2014 at 10:43 AM

Great to see how this image portrays the environment. The composition is just perfect.

Registered on March 9, 2009, 171 Posts, 493 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on December 9, 2014 at 3:59 PM

Nicely composed minimalist shot Max,

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

Comment posted by Ken Archer on December 11, 2014 at 3:40 AM

Awesome Photo Max !

Good luck and have fun out there

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Ingrid Vekemans on December 12, 2014 at 2:30 PM

Super shot….they are gorgeous and a rare sighting. I hope you see one again too…good luck!

Grt, Ingrid.

Registered on August 2, 2010, 138 Posts, 780 Comments

Comment posted by Ashleigh Scully on December 16, 2014 at 5:33 PM

I think this is great as it is. 1/8000 is really fast but I think ermines are too

Registered on November 4, 2013, 36 Posts, 210 Comments