Finally, a squirrel!

[Neil Burton]

I have been absent for a short time, mostly due to work, family and keeping the flat from crumbling. I tend not to do much over the summer, this year was different as I went to Finland, and I wait instead for the winter months. One good reason, squirrels lose their tufts and are only now showing them off again. Well timed with falling leaves.

1Dx, ISO1000, 1/500 sec, f4, 200-400@400 HH. Some annoying grass cloned on the RHS. Processed in LR and PSCC.

146698

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Neil, lovely warm/rich colours of Autumn and the vibrant green of the moss on the tree trunk, just not sure about the splurges of green in the FG and the blades of grass, WDYT? Agree on getting them now and into full Winter to have those ear tuffs visible. Really like the posture and expression, as if he is trying to stuff the whole nut into that tiny mouth. Excellent detail, must have been quite close, just wonder if its 'fractionally' too sharp, but it's so borderline, think i'm just so used to LR :w3.

Nice to have you back posting, don't make it so long next time. :bg3:

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Neil you still active ........ very good , there are times when we have to do other stuff .
A very nice re opener , good framing with super tone /color . Excellent detail and sharpness where it counts :cheers:.I only might reduce the oranges in ACR a tiny fraction , just my thought, not saying it is not correct . They are just poking my eye a tiny bit .

BTW , Steve is becoming a softie with getting older :w3.

TFS Andreas

[Morkel Erasmus]

Good to have you posting again!
I like the low angle, soft light, and awesome detail/pose. I agree on dropping reds/orange just a tad?

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Neil - Nice comp and light. The acorn certainly adds to the scene. Another vote for cutting back on the orange/red a bit.

TFS,
Rachel

[Mark Needham]

Hi Neil -- Awesome low angle and comp, great light, super catch light in the eye, and love the pose with the acorn - awesome. Agree with the others about slightly toning down the orange / red hue.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Lovely colours, nicely composed and sharp for sure ! Well done. TFS!

[Neil Burton]

Looking at this at work on an Eizo I agree about the oranges. Shooting in a cemetery near work at lunch time, I would love to be able to set up something more permanent but of course everything is banned in Germany. My way is to walk around looking. When I see a squidger I use a nice big wallnut to get his attention. Throwing hazelnuts is useless as they hardly ever find them. Once you find a squirrel happy to come back for more and search for more nuts you can try and coerce them into a better position. Some will watch you put nuts down and come back to the right spot, mostly they are just too stupid. Some days I get no shots, some days I get a few. All this in a 1 hour break :|

Steve, I did cover the grass but the squirrel kept foraging even though he knew the nuts were right near his feet. :( I did export this from LR, my only PS work is to better separate the BG from the subject (the new focus selection tool work quite well i find). File then re-loaded in LR for final tweaking and export.

Thanks guys!

[Steve Kaluski]

I can appreciate that Neil, they are little buggers for that, can appreciate the frustration, you need to work on flex time :bg3:, but at least you can get them at close quarters.

It's the way to go for Workflow, did you do all the updates from yesterday? Yep some good tools now, especially with 2014, have used the Focus tool to see how it functions, seems ideal for those folk who chop in BKG's, but to me you need a good edge.

[Neil Burton]

The focus select tool can be great but sometimes not perfect... but still a nice base with which to paint in or out a few parts. Saves a bit of time even if it does not work perfectly. Allows a little more noise control over the BG.

[Douglas Bolt]

Could sell this as a magazine cover. Well done. The colors do not seem artificial to me.

[John Robinson]

No nits from me Neil at all. The hazel Nut is a bonus if anything.
JohnR

[Neil Burton]

Thanks guys. John I worked hard this year looking for hazel trees ;) nothing like free squirrel food! :)