Squirrel Shot

[Edward Arthur]

Ordinarily squirrels don't excite me as subjects. Maybe they're just too common around here so we ignore them. But this girl caught my eye as she bobbed around the trees in my back yard nibbling on some new growth among the poplars in the late afternoon. Too bad her paw is in front of her mouth. But I do like the tone, the whiskers and catchlight in her eye.

150802

Canon 6D
Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 300/4
1/400 f/5.6 ISO 500
HH and manual focus

Sharpened using Topaz Denoise on a high-pass filter layer. Trying something new and different. Go figure. :)

[Warren Spreng]

Cute pose, love the paws holding the branch.

[Diane Miller]

Very nice catch! Squirrels are cute subjects. I don't mind the paw as it's sharp and doing something interesting. Very nice depth of field!

The image is low in contrast. I'd do a little experimentation with tonalities. Here it is with a Curves adjustment layer added and the two ends brought straight in to the start of the histogram (like Levels) and then the middle of the curve pulled up a little.

You could do much better with tonal adjustments on the raw file. Just watch the histogram for a guide to where the ends should be.

[Edward Arthur]

Thanks, guys. :)

Diane, yep I see your point and it does lead to improvement. Many thanks for the analysis and demonstration!