Mother Fox Welcomed Home

[Bill Jobes]

Just moments after sunrise one day in April, I saw this vixen return with food to her den, where she was eagerly greeted by her gathering kits.
The location was a field in Eastern Pennsylvania.
The golden glow results from the sun just breaking the horizon.

1Ds Mark III
1/1600
F/6.3
ISO 1600
Canon 500 F4 w/1.4 tC

C & C welcomed and appreciated.

[Krijn Trimbos]

Hi Bill,
The scene, behavior and family look great. Love the eye contact, angle and surrounding plants. However, I would like a little less room behind the fox and a little more in front. Also, this would improve a lot with more contrast as it looks a bit flat, and I would desaturate it just a tiny bit. Beautiful shot in any case!

[D. Robert Franz]

Great interaction here. You had some awesome light to work with. A little more room all around would help. Was this heavily cropped? Something just doesn't look right with the PP???

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Hi Bill,
If this photo is a cropped one, then I would like more space around the subject. I would have liked some more sharpness. Considering that you are shooting a 1DSIII, I was expecting more details in the subject. I like the colours. Nice nature history moment. I am sure it would have been fabulous watching the mother and child interactions. I hope you have more to share from this series.

[Bill Jobes]

Thanks for all the comments so far.
This image was a real challenge for me to process, as I was combatting a hot spot on the mother's back, and a dark kit to her left.
I've attempted to balance all 'light' factors as much as possible, with the obvious limitation being my PS 'skills' !
Here is the original as-shot image, vastly reduced of course to meet upload parameters.
I welcome any and all to process the image and to share the results with the group.
Many thanks to one and all!
-Bill

[Krijn Trimbos]

Hi Bill,
I gave it a shot, it is pretty difficult working with a webimage Jpeg, but this is what I came up with. I didn't crop because I would have lost too many detail, but would crop it in between this full frame version and your original post. I gave it basic levels (using threshold white and blackpoint markers which was far less accurate with only 800 pixels on the longest side) and curves adjustment, a little saturation, used S/H on the shadows, cloned out the pieces of sky above the reedbed (although I'm not too sure about that now) and blurred the reedbed a bit. Hope you like it.

Cheers,

Krijn

[Bill Jobes]

Nice work, Krijn!
You brought out much detail and really enhanced the overall image.
You've inspired me to go back and give it another try!

[Steve Canuel]

Hi Bill,
I like the mood, light, and color of your image and actually think you lose some of that mood with the crop. Here's a quick try at your original.
Steve

[Bill Jobes]

That's great Steve, Thanks! Nice Work!

I also like the full frame, which I kept after re-working it after being inspired by all the very constructive input.
I cloned out a few distracting elements, and brightened it somewhat, but believe I retained the integrity of the image.

Thanks to everyone for all the input.

Here's my new full-frame version.

[David Steele]

Bill, this is a great image of a lovely scene and perhaps the issue is being overcomplicated here. A little more breathing space is all that is needed in my opinion. Well done!

[DanWalters]

The repost looks great! Love the light and the interaction.

[Bill Jobes]

Thanks David and Dan!