Meerkat (Suricata suricatta) - South Africa

[Bill Nuttall]

Klein Karoo - Game Reserve - I saw a couple of Eagles high in the sky so started to watch them with my Bins. I was not the only one. Looked to my right and saw a family of Meerkats on a man made marker post.

HH - D750 - Nikon 300PF VR + 1,4TC - 1/500th - f8 - ISO 500
Usual playing around in LR
(should I get rid of the black area to the right of Mum and Dads head? - is the image sharpe enough?)

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We saw them again during our visit as they would hang around the accommodation enclosure sometimes during the day - semi fearless of man until you got near them then they would "spit" at you and run away or (we were told) would bite if you tried to get familiar. Anyway they made perfect subjects

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Bill - Interesting about the eagle drawing their attention. I am sure it is a predator of them. Nice to see the 4 of them in one place. The parents look sharper than the youngsters. Where was the FP? The black spot doesn't bother me but I tend to leave things as they were naturally and not clone or blend, personal choice and ethics. If it were mine I would tame the highlights in the fg rock.

TFS,
Rachel

[haseeb badar]

Hi Bill -- Lovely pose and look on the face of the youngsters . I too feel the highlights are bit strong on the rocks and also that black isn't bothering at all . TFS !

[Bill Nuttall]

Hi Bill - Interesting about the eagle drawing their attention. I am sure it is a predator of them. Nice to see the 4 of them in one place. The parents look sharper than the youngsters. Where was the FP? The black spot doesn't bother me but I tend to leave things as they were naturally and not clone or blend, personal choice and ethics. If it were mine I would tame the highlights in the fg rock.

TFS,
Rachel

Thanks Rachel, your comments are really appreciate ......... I am sorry but I do not understand what you mean by FP

[Bill Nuttall]

Hi Bill -- Lovely pose and look on the face of the youngsters . I too feel the highlights are bit strong on the rocks and also that black isn't bothering at all . TFS !

Thanks haseeb

Highlights - 90% of the time I just set the Black and white points in LR with the sliders to just before they blown or before they loose detail - and then use the adjustment brush on any small areas that I feel are over the top

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Bill - FP is focal point. Check out the sticky at the top of the Eager to Learn Forum for a list of abbreviations commonly used on BPN.

Cheers,
Rachel

[Bill Nuttall]

Hi Bill - FP is focal point. Check out the sticky at the top of the Eager to Learn Forum for a list of abbreviations commonly used on BPN.

Cheers,
Rachel

Hopefully it was on the head/eye as I normally shoot birds

But this image is a crop and I was far enough away with 420mm at f8 that it gave me a bit of DOF

Best

Bill

[Rachel Hollander]

Bill - How much of a crop is it? Btw the amount of crop is good information to disclose in your op. It helps with the critique process especially if there is a fall off in IQ as it tells us the likely reason. I don't know Nikon's software but in Canon's we can see where the focal point was. In a grouping like this rather than put the FP on the eye of one the adults, it might have been better to put it in the middle of the desired dof.

[Bill Nuttall]

Bill - How much of a crop is it? Btw the amount of crop is good information to disclose in your op. It helps with the critique process especially if there is a fall off in IQ as it tells us the likely reason. I don't know Nikon's software but in Canon's we can see where the focal point was. In a grouping like this rather than put the FP on the eye of one the adults, it might have been better to put it in the middle of the desired dof.

Thanks again Rachel .. crop 22% of the original 6x4 image ....... I would normally have cropped this tighter and excluded part of the base ........ cropped just below one of the kids and reduced the space on the right ......... but I felt it was more appropriate that I posted as I did.

AFAIK no focus points in LR although there is a plug in - I don't use the Nikon software just Lightroom and sometimes PS

I don't really mind OOF areas in bird and animal images

This was probably my favourite shot, (needs a little processing!) of the 20 I managed to get - I feel that it makes the viewer look "left and right" (focus - OOF) as the Meerkats are doing

Thanks again for your interest and help as it is really appreciated

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[keith mitchell]

Bill I agree the young ones do look a little softer but cute it really is.The adults pose is top class,do like this.

Is this the same lens you used on your Stilt on avian?

Keith.

[Bill Nuttall]

Bill I agree the young ones do look a little softer but cute it really is.The adults pose is top class,do like this.

Is this the same lens you used on your Stilt on avian?

Keith.

yep the 300mm PF with the 1,4TC at f8 ...... HH, (I use it HH all the time with a D750), walking around as I just got out of the car, I also shoot from the car a lot with it ......... really handy, quick, lighter than the camera body and the VR means you can go down to really low shutter speeds ....... obviously I enjoy photography but I am really interest in Birds and bird watching and the combo is great for ID shots and records.

Canon have nothing like this lens, (maybe they need to upgrade their excellent 400mm f5.6) and if Nikon push this technology into a 400mm f4 it would be something.

Tripod shots I use a Nikon 600mm f4 with a D810 ....... but you try travelling with the 600mm

Best

Bill

[Marc Mol]

A lovely family portrait here Bill depicting their watchful behaviour, with good advice from Rachel.

I love my 300PF as well, especially on a crop body like the D500 it's an absolute winner! :5

TFS