gannet predator

[John Chardine]

We have Red Foxes on Bonaventure Island and in 2012 they had a field-day eating gannet eggs and chicks. Still, a few foxes did not have a big impact on such a large bird colony- ca. 50,000 breeding pairs. I've been back this year and so far have seen none, but it got me thinking about them and I dug up this image, which I've always liked.

For this portrait I cropped and coloured a green, OOF section at bottom (used Brush tool set to Color blending mode). Sharpened in Topaz Infocus. Comments welcome.

Canon 1DIV, 70-200mm f2.8II lens @200mm, ISO 400, 1/3200, f4.5

[Marina Scarr]

OMG, John, this image is just awesome. The details are just amazing. It's sharp where it needs to be and subtle otherwise. The fur and whisker details are killer.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi John, nice to have you posting here too, makes a very welcome change and another species too. :cheers:

Most of my images of a fox has either been in open woodland or urban so seeing such a portrait with a pink BKG has kind of through me a little, what is BKG/surround? With such a DOF I am very pleased to see sharpness from nose to eye, but another question, why not a higher DOF as you had the SS? Cracking detail with nice clarity. Re the eyes, have you adjusted them as they look identical, both in terms of colour & tonally, I thought there may have been some difference, with the LH side (as viewed) being slightly in shadow?

John I'm away again so viewing on the laptop, not ideal, but some mid tone as a Luminosity layer helps I think just to add a bit more tonality & form, plus helps with the slightly brighter areas. Personally I'm not a fan of the shallow DOF of the chest and perhaps a tighter square crop might be worth exploring as it still retains the shallow DOF to give emphasis to the face but there is less of it? Plus I might just ease off on the sharpness on the forehead as I feel it's just a tad too sharp and looking a little too crisp. Just my take.

Hope to see more.

TFS
Steve

[John Chardine]

Thanks so much Marina and Steve. Great comments. The "pink" is the red soil of the area. The shot was pretty well "grab" as these guys would just appear. The settings look like I was doing gannets in flight! I didn't do anything with the eyes in particular but in the raw processing phase I added some to the Shadow slider and that may have affected the right hand eye more (I didn't report this because at this stage I may adjust several sliders and it would get quite cumbersome to describe everything). Steve- could you explain "some mid tone as a Luminosity layer".

[Steve Kaluski]

Steve- could you explain "some mid tone as a Luminosity layer".

Yes, a lot of people ask about this. :bg3:

Basically John I have a programme that has now been written where the Alpha channels work with Calculations & subtractions, each Dark, Mid & light channel has four additional channels built up from sub-contactions of each other, I can then choose the layer and apply it as a luminosity layer basis. This is a straight Mid tone applied so you can see the difference.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi John - fantastic image with excellent clarity and details. The red bg works well. I do agree about the fall off in dof but totally understand it being a grab shot while you were shooting gannets. You should post in wildlife more often.

TFS,
Rachel

[Nancy Bell]

I like the super sharp details of the face, eyes, whiskers and open mouth with the surprising contrast of the soft body fur and pink bkgd. Makes for a very unusual and interesting image!

[John Chardine]

Thanks Steve, I'm no further forth on the method but I can see the subtle result. Great!

[Marina Scarr]

Steve, I like the changes your RP makes in the fox, but I feel that it makes the BG look too pink.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Marina, I totally agree, but I just wanted to show John what the effect does, albeit subtle. Usually I would mask and apply to keep areas, not globally as posted. :S3:

[Don Railton]

This is absolutely beautiful John..! With those eyes and that big smile I don't even notice the background...

DON