Pine Marten in Winter

[Andrew McLachlan]

167447

Last week I did a quick day trip to Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park to photograph Pine Martens with my new Nikon D500. When I arrived there was a hoard of photographers already there, but little activity with regards to the Pine Martens. After the photographers left I stayed behind for several hours and three Pine Martens emerged from the forest and provided many great photo opportunities...this is one of my favorite images from the day.

Nikon D500
Nikon 200-500mm lens @ 220mm (330mm equivalent)
ISO 1000
f8 @ 1/800 sec.
Tripod mounted camera with a Wimberley Sidekick on the ballhead

Looking forward to comments and suggestions.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Andrew - Your patience paid off. I like the pose with the curved body. Tones and colors look good. The snow on the tree adds to the image. I don't love the green in the urc but it would likely stay for me too because to crop it out would be too tight. Up to you whether you would clone it out. Overall, nice one.

TFS,
Rachel

[keith mitchell]

That's a great pose you have captured Andrew,think the head protruding from the trunk helps the animal stand out well and the texture of the fur looks excellent,not seen one like this before it does look very good.

Keith.

[Steve Kaluski]

Awesome Andrew, liked it when I first saw it, so glad you posted it!!!!
Sadly our ones are far more nocturnal and ANY photographed in daylight are either, baited or captive. Wish I could stop off next month as I cross your side of the pond heading West. :wave:

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Andrew lovely image of the Pine Marten , i do think too that your patience paid off .
Great pose of the marten and you have lovely color and tones , with the right tonal depth across the range . I might just temper the blacks a fraction ( might be down to downsizing ) .
Brilliant work .
I am not 100 % sure if i would have liked the head fully on the bark or the head more sticking out into the whitish BG , as presented i think it is a bit tricky for me .
Nevertheless a great frame.

TFS Andreas

[Daniel Cadieux]

I was there on Thursday, and two of them were very cooperative. Almost no one there too:S3:. This dorsal view shows how strong the hind legs are, at least in musculature. I'm OK with the bit of vegetation up there. I have not had one pose upside down in full view like this yet, only partially hidden behind the trunk...

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks folks for the comments...much appreciated.

Rachel...I may clone out the out of focus branches...had mixed feelings about them...and they are present in the next photo I will post too :)
Steve...anytime you want to head over this way give me a shout I will take you over there :)
Andreas...I will post an alternate capture with the head and body on the tree momentarily :)
Dan...missed you by one day...I will be going back again sometime within the next two weeks before I depart for a two week stay on Cayman Brac :)

[haseeb badar]

Excellent work Andrew , loved the image . What a marvelous subject and you have done full justice to the image and the subject . TFS !

[Jonathan Ashton]

Super shot Andrew, you certainly earned the shot, lovely image quality and I like the pose. As Steve said tricky for you over there, practically impossible for us over here so well done!

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks so much Haseeb and Jonathan, much appreciated!