Red squirrel

[Jonathan Ashton]

Tripod Canon 1DX Canon 500mm f4 Auto ISO 2500 1/125 sec f6.3
What a day this was! My pal and I went to Formby National Trust Reserve on the North West Coast of England, I had been several times previously and had varying degrees of success and the last time I went it was a disaster, squirrel pox almost wiped out the entire colony and the few remaining squirrels would not come within shooting distance. Luckily today the population is about 80% of the original so there were plenty there and they performed for us. I have another little tale to relate to you with my next post.
As usual light was poor but I remained undeterred, now this shot as I am sure you will know is a "marmite" shot. That magpie makes the shot or it ruins it - so which is it?
All C&C welcome.

[Mark Needham]

Great image, Jonathan. Love the low angle, eye contact, and pose. I would keep the magpie in only if this is not FF and you could add some more space / canvas to the RHS (right now the bird is far too close to the edge of the frame for my tastes). I would also suggest toning down the saturation / vividness on the greens - a bit harsh for my eyes. But, I am on my monitor at work right now (not my home monitor, which is far better for photography and properly calibrated), so it would be good to see what others think.

[Neil Burton]

Colour look OK at work, and here is where things are over saturated for me, but this looks good! The magpie for me has to go i am affraid, too close to the edge. Love the setting and angle. Would use a gradient on the bottom 20% to darken the highlights.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Looking at the image in my study in daylight I have to agree the colours especially the greens are over saturated, it never occurred to me last night. Untypically for me I shot using Cloudy setting in camera and I liked the reds in the squirrel and took my eye off the greens. I have adjusted the colour temperature (-100 degrees) and desaturated the greens a little, re cropped and added a little canvas to the right.

[Neil Burton]

I would say something between the two, 50%, saturationa nd colour wise. Now is overall a bit cool. Works better with canvas but the foreground cloning needs a bit of work ;)

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Jonathan - I much prefer the rp both in terms of comp and color but we don't have these reds so I am a poor judge of how much red there should be. For me in the tighter comp of the op, I thought the magpie should go. In the wider view, it works for me with it in. I know conditions weren't ideal but I would have liked more dof to have the entire tail in focus with it draped down the way it is. HA a little more parallel or towards you would take it up a notch but not a deal breaker for me.

TFS,
Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Jonathan , RP for me from the comp POV and half of the OP color would be good .
Nice low POV with good detail and sharpness.I am fine with DOF , ok tail fully in focus would be better .

TFS Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jonathan, adding a bit more to the RHS has helped and I'm 50/50 on the Magpie inclusion, although if I had to make a decision then I would loose the bird. The two main elements for me are, that the low SS has not produced a crisp enough image, lacks clarity & definition, look at the ears, perhaps f/4 rather than f/6.3 and upping the ISO 3200/6400 and for me this is why I never ever have shot Auto ISO, I prefer to be in control. Secondly, although EV was at zero I get the impression the main body fur looks lightened, lifted, however this might just be the slight softness & sharpening combination. Say that I do like the body posture, curvature of the tail s it sweeps around. I also prefer the OP without the blades of grass on the tail and to the right by he mound. Jon, why did you not change the WB setting in the RAW processing from Cloudy?

TFS
Steve

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks very much everyone for your comments - much appreciated, I thought there would be a split in the camp regarding the magpie!
I initially set the white balance to cloudy because it was!:w3 Someone had been there before me and said he was using cloudy to emphasise the red colours so I thought I would give it a go. Since then I have set the colour temp to 5200/5100 this gives the rich colours I was after. Auto WB or using the white dropper gives rather cold uninteresting colours. Regards shutter speed I used a whole range form 1/800 to 1/125. It becomes a circular argument over control, ISO dictates shutter speed/aperture in turn aperture/shutter speed dictates ISO. For me ISO is of secondary importance I am happy with the quality. The purpose for showing this image was to show the juxtaposition of the magpie and get people's view on inclusion or exclusion, I got plenty of other shots with faster shutter speeds and with the squirrels in more interesting poses. Thanks again for the feedback.