Stoat

[Steve Kaluski]

Something I often see darting along the road, but rarely in front of me, which was more luck than judgement. Nothing you could do about the upturned tree this was where he/she was darting about, foraging for bugs & beetles in the undergrowth.

Cheers
Steve

Subject: Stoat looking to camera (Mustela erminea)
Location: UK
Camera: Canon 1DX
Lens: 500f/4 Gitzo tripod/Wimberley head
Exposure: 1/1000s at f/6.3 ISO800 +0.33EV

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

A great one from you yet again, Steve! One can argue that it would have been nice to have the full body in focus but that would not really have added value in this context. The focus in the face is as sharp as can be and in fact the somewhat out of focus body adds a nice 'cuddly' softness to the whole scene. Well done!

[Rachel Hollander]

Steve - nice job on the exp and excellent detail in the whites and darker fur. While the tree may not be ideal it is the habitat and the colors complement each other.

TFS,
Rachel

[keith mitchell]

Now Steve you are a lucky chap! You don't get a lot of time with these animals so what you have got is great.

Cheers Keith.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Steve , agree about this thing in the BKG being a bit distracting .i do find the whole left BKG side not ideal.But i think i would be more than happy getting these guys in the frame and shooting a shot like this one……….. well done .
Vey much like these glossy eyes.
I would try to lighten the dark parts in the left BKG area , maybe it helps to make them less noticeable.

TFS Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Steve!

Back from over a week of absence from BPN (forgive me for being so scarce lately), I was looking through the thumbnails of Wildlife briefly to see what "jumps" at me...And what a cutie this little one is! Never seen one in real life and I am happy with the image as is, if the stoat is similar to our local mongooses in terms of behaviour then you only had seconds to capture him before he disappeared into dense foliage...Image well processed and presented as always, Steve!

Warmest regards,

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nice low angle here Steve, colours work well too. I would have liked less space on the LHS given the pose and gaze here, and more of the tail in on the RHS (if not the whole tail depending on how it was positioned)?

[Neil Burton]

Not often they stay still enough for a shot, like the angle and the vegetation.