Wolverine

[Gregor Bergquist]

I made a prolonged weekend trip to Finland, and got the opportunity to photograph this wolverine and his mother from a hide.
Conditions were overcast, a light rain and a very wet wolverine.

131711

Nikon D800
Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II + Nikon TC 14E-II @ 280mm
f4.0 | 1/640 SS | ISO-3200

Cropped to square, adjusted some levels, sharpen and some noise reduction.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Gregor - nice to see a different animal and one I've never seen. If it were mine I would crop out about half of the oof foliage in the fg. Since I've never seen one I can't comment on colors of the wolverine. I like the layers of color in the bg and the square crop works here.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gregor, a nice sighting, and I like the richness off the colours and you can clearly see the conditions. A square crop works, but I feel there is too much 'mush' in the FG, as an alternative try a 16 x 9 using the full width as you have it. You can also retain the layering BKG too. The image looks to be on the edge of IQ IMHO which is surprising for Nikon, however hopefully Morkel will have some thoughts on how to get a bit more from the image which will help the subject. Going for the 70-200 was a good choice as I like the habitat/environment look & feel.

Just a guess, but was this close to the Russian border, I don't want to disclose much more, as I know the guide. :w3

TFS
Steve

[Stan Cunningham]

Any shot of a wolverine is cool! But I have to agree with Steve on the foreground as it's distracting. I would try his crop suggestion if the image can handle that much crop.

[Steve Kaluski]

Stan, I suggest Gregor retains the width, just crop the top/bottom so IQ will not suffer :w3

[Gregor Bergquist]

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This is a 4x6 crop. I do agree about the foreground. Problem with tighter crop is as Steve pointed out, IQ is weak. I also think texture on his fur/chest is weak. Why I don´t know. Iso or just not good enough light/exposure. D800 should offer more than enough resolution.

As Steve thought this is just at the russian/finnish border. The owner name is Ari. There is though more than one place who offers hides for primarily bear photography. If you get lucky you can get a shot at wolverine, wolf and lynx. These animals are very shy and rare.

As always C & C are most welcome.

[Steve Kaluski]

Gregor, that is exactly my thought on crop, but perhaps a hint more below, with hindsight it might be a little too tight, it's just another option I feel. :S3:

Not sure if you drove along the road with all the hunters towers along it? I stayed at the scientific research station there in winter time, -28, fun.

[Gregor Bergquist]

I could go wider , but then the subject would be more in center of the picture. And I feel it would loose on composition. I think I have got very good input on this picture. Now I will post a new one.

I didn´t see any hunter towers. I guess you were at an other place. This was close to Vartius.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The repost is much better comp-wise...do you have a sliver more at left for the tree stump? In any case a wolverine sighting, let alone a photograph of one, is a special thing indeed. Love the habitat depicted here.

[Loi Nguyen]

Wow, this is an incredible sighting! Love the multi colored BG. You already got good advice above, the only thing I wonder is whether the focus was right on the wolverine eye at the time of exposure? with F4 @ 280 mm, you don't have much DOF, right? Loi

[Gregor Bergquist]

Hi Daniel I do have a sliver more on the left hand side. Exposure I think is nailed on the nose. But as mention, IQ is a bit weak and you don´t really get it 100% sharp anywhere.

I appreciate your C&C, Gregor

[Morkel Erasmus]

Great sighting. I like the original comp. The wolverine looks a bit too purple, even in the last RP?
Shooting the D800 at high ISO requires a bit of skill - it's certainly competent, but can be fickle because of the resolution requiring a very steady hand for best sharpness.
I'd be happy to work with the original file for you Gregor. Pop me a PM so I can give you my dropbox address :w3.

[Gregor Bergquist]

Hi Morkel and everyone else that feel for a go. Though looking at the raw file I´m pretty sure IQ sucks. Maybe Morkel can works wonders?

Here you can download the raw file: wolverine.nef (http://www.psykologbergquist.se/wolverine.nef) (right click and choose save as.)

/Gregor

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks Gregor.
Did a very quick job here. What do you think??

[Gregor Bergquist]

Hi Morkel

I think you did very good. I notice that you removed the distracting objects. But I´m wondering, how did you get detail on the wolverine and how did you get the grass in background a lighter more yellow shade?

Thanks / Gregor

[Morkel Erasmus]

Gregor, glad you like it.
I tweaked colour balance and saturation upfront in RAW to liking, then took out magenta and blues from the wolverine in PS later on.
I dodged the shadows and midtones in the wolverine somewhat towards the end, I was also very gentle on LR Raw noise reduction but ran some more NR on the BG in PS.

[Ian McHenry]

Hi Gregor
Nice low viewpoint which shows the power of the animal.
I like your repost but am distracted by bg tree left and also a bit by left side stump.
Here is a slightly panoramic option.
Cheers: Ian Mc