Round Tailed Ground Squirrel with young

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L
1/2000sec f/7.1 ISO 400 HH

Levels, crop, sharpening in CS5

[Morkel Erasmus]

nice low angle here and I dig the symmetrical poses Ian
I don't mind the DOF as I often take shots with animals slightly OOF, but in this case I just with there was a bit more separation between the young one's mouth and mom, maybe just that they were spaced slightly apart left-to-right :e3

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks for commenting, Morkel. I wasn't in a position to shift myself enough to separate them :w3 , but I see what you mean.

[Steve Canuel]

Like the mirrored poses here. Looks as if mom may have moved her head as the rest of the body seems to be a different sharpness. Also like the sunburst catchlight.

[Pieter de Waal]

Lovely symmetrical pose Ian, you managed the difficult light conditions very well. You are right not easy to get your subjects the way you want them in the wild.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks for commenting, Morkel. I wasn't in a position to shift myself enough to separate them :w3 , but I see what you mean.

we mostly aren't in a position to do so...but just some food for thought for next time, eh? :c3:

[Robert Amoruso]

Ian,

A couple of things I would like to add to the above comments. A reverse s-curve would help to lower contrast and open up the shadows here.

At 1/2000 sec. and as it looks there are not moving around, then a slower shutter and smaller aperture could have gotten more of the BG adult sharper. Of course assuming they were posed like this long enough to react.