Snowshoe Hare (Lepus americanus) Techs | Canon 1D Mark IV | 500mm | F4 II | F4 |1/500 | ISO 800 | Manual | Handheld - Taken last week by a dirt track logging road. The hare allowed me to get close and actually came towards me for a closer look but unfortunately was spooked when a large truck raced by the road nearby. One of my fav species but I was hopping for more from this encounter.
Last edited by Jamie Douglas; 08-02-2013 at 03:13 PM.
Jamie, Can you post a vertical and one with all of the ears? I love the clear eyes and the soft bg. A side note, a whisker is crossing over the eye. I like #2 & 5 of your snowy owls on your web site. Well done there.
Last edited by Grady Weed; 08-02-2013 at 04:46 PM.
Jamie, Can you post a vertical and one with all of the ears? I love the clear eyes and the soft bg. A side note, a whisker is crossing over the eye. I like #2 & 5 of your snowy owls on your web site. Well done there.
Cheers Grady, sadly I don't have a vertical worth sharing from this encounter :( . I wanted an image showing its snowshoes but the hare was amongst bushes which made it tough to get a good angle without shrubs and twigs etc covering it's face. I decided to work closer to get a portrait image but by the time I found this position and BG, the truck came and ruined the party, causing the hare to dart into the forest. I left and returned later hoping he would be back but no :(.
The nervous-looking tongue lick is great! More than makes up for the missing ears. Cropping a little more from the top would make the cutoff look more intentional, as with a clipped wing.
I've often wished for some sort of electromagnetic device that would stall the electronic ignition on any vehicle within 100 yards.
Hi Jamie, sadly the image is not working for me for two reasons: A. Clipped ears B. The format, sorry matey.
Clipped wings, whiskers, ears etc, are personally a big no no and you know me very well Jamie, so I don't think my comments come as any surprise . Also, for me, the image is crying out to go portrait and to capture the whole of the head. From your intro the Snowshoe hare was comfortable with your presence and so once you had got this shot in the bag you should have flip the camera. However, I hear what you were saying to Grady, but I think having the head slightly hidden within the vegetation might have worked better and more interesting? Based on the image as presented, going closer is not an option as I feel the IQ isn't quite there which is surprising, I assume Jamie this is HH? That eye needs to be crystal clear and pin sharp working this closely, if you haven't seen my Scrub Hare I will send it to you to see where I'm coming from and that was with the MKIII & old 500
In an ideal world, more DOF with a higher SS, I just don't think f/4 was enough to give you what you needed for this shot. If this is close by Jamie I would keep revisiting the area for more images and take a pod with you.
Sorry to sound so negative Jamie, but great to see you dusted down the gear. Jamie if you want a chat will be back tomorrow, just wrapped up the Little owls.
Great to see you posting again.
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Hello Jamie, what do you think of this crop? I took the liberty of copying this image and did a different crop as well as sharpened a bit. I think this little guy is so cute
Hi Jamie - looks like you're doing well with the new 500. Nice detail but I do wish the ears were not clipped. Maybe a tad more sharpening as well. Hopefully, you'll find the hare again and get some more images.
Hi Jamie, sadly the image is not working for me for two reasons: A. Clipped ears B. The format, sorry matey.
Clipped wings, whiskers, ears etc, are personally a big no no and you know me very well Jamie, so I don't think my comments come as any surprise . Also, for me, the image is crying out to go portrait and to capture the whole of the head. From your intro the Snowshoe hare was comfortable with your presence and so once you had got this shot in the bag you should have flip the camera. However, I hear what you were saying to Grady, but I think having the head slightly hidden within the vegetation might have worked better and more interesting? Based on the image as presented, going closer is not an option as I feel the IQ isn't quite there which is surprising, I assume Jamie this is HH? That eye needs to be crystal clear and pin sharp working this closely, if you haven't seen my Scrub Hare I will send it to you to see where I'm coming from and that was with the MKIII & old 500
In an ideal world, more DOF with a higher SS, I just don't think f/4 was enough to give you what you needed for this shot. If this is close by Jamie I would keep revisiting the area for more images and take a pod with you.
Sorry to sound so negative Jamie, but great to see you dusted down the gear. Jamie if you want a chat will be back tomorrow, just wrapped up the Little owls.
Great to see you posting again.
TFS
Steve
Cheers for the comments everyone and the repost is certainly a step in the recovery direction so thank you Gabriela . Steve, you know my attitude is to always put myself up against the best so thanks for your honest comments. They go a long way and are taken as you intended them. This was my first snowshoe hare encounter so I basically set out really unprepared camera tech wise as I assumed it would be super skittish. Ground pod sounds like the way to go as it wasn't tripod or beanbag territory, and shooting uphill was a little taxing on the biceps lol. It was one of those moments when you just want to kick yourself and delete all the results but seeing as I haven't been out for a while I wanted to at least process it and get that experience. I'll sleep on the rest of the results for a few more nights. Have a good weekend everyone and thanks for being such a supportive and honest gang.
Last edited by Jamie Douglas; 08-04-2013 at 12:04 AM.
Don't be too hard on yourself -- it may not conform to the rigid rules of "wildlife" but for me it's a fine and humorous piece, all about the nose and that nervous little lick, which is where the focus hit. And it's looking right at you, to emphasize that aspect. A crop will bring that emphasis in and give you a very worthy image.
Hi Jamie, good to talk and boy, has Ewan grown, what are you feeding him on, 'Growmore' fertiliser?
Interesting Gabriela, I had sent Jamie almost the identical crop about 6hrs prior, great minds hey, spookie.
Jamie, I think tweaking the Reds, Yellows & in parts the Magentas as discussed, brings a bit more colour back, plus juggling with two Curve adjustments and a light adjustment you start to see where you can get 'form' from, within the face. Adding some more sharpening also helps I feel. Hopefully this may set things up too for the Bears, I hate you, give Mike my best.
I still think you should talk to Canon, let me know what happens, be interested.
Enjoy the rest of the day buddy, talk soon.
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
I like the square crop. Getting in close and filling most of the frame makes the framing look deliberate. For me, with a tight crop, the loss of the tops of the ears isn't significant. There's enough ear to make it clear that this is a hare, and that's all that's needed. I hope you don't mind, but I've tried an even tighter square crop just to see what happened when the hare came close to completely filling the frame. For me, this is an intimate portrait. The hare is looking right at you. Eliminating most of the background emphasizes the direct relationship between photographer and animal.
Late to this one, Jamie...
I concur with Steve - just not ticking the boxes for reasons he laid out...
It is a quirky species - it looks like it has almost a cleft palate of some sorts?
I hope you can spend more time with them to expand your portfolio of them!
Thanks again for all the feedback and words of encouragement folk. I will be the first to say this image isn't spectacular but I will admit that I kind of like the cute expression. Reminds me of a pet rabbit we had during college days in our flat. The landlord thought it might attract girls but it didn't, I would usually wake up on the couch after a late night and have the rabbit sleeping on my head with a nibbled kebab or pizza box beside me . Here is a reworked version based on all your feedback. I went for a 8x10?. Cheers everyone and hope your kid had a good 1st birthday Morkel
Last edited by Jamie Douglas; 08-06-2013 at 12:22 AM.
Hi Jamie, good to talk and boy, has Ewan grown, what are you feeding him on, 'Growmore' fertiliser?
Ewan's on Growmore and I am on Bowmore . Looking at the image again I could go with more mid tones and sharpening, but time for bed now. Catch up again soon before I go to Van Isle and I'll call Canon tomorrow.
Last edited by Jamie Douglas; 08-06-2013 at 12:23 AM.
Snowshoe Hare
Jamie Douglas thanked for this post
Originally Posted by Grady Weed
. Also, for me, the image is crying out to go portrait and to capture the whole of the head. From your intro the Snowshoe hare was comfortable with your presence and so once you had got this shot in the bag you should have flip the camera. However, I hear what you were saying to Grady, but I think having the head slightly hidden within the vegetation might have worked better and more interesting? Based on the image as presented, going closer is not an option as I feel the IQ isn't quite there which is surprising, I assume Jamie this is HH? That eye needs to be crystal clear and pin sharp working this closely, if you haven't seen my Scrub Hare I will send it to you to see where I'm coming from and that was with the MKIII & old 500
Jamie if you want a chat will be back tomorrow, just wrapped up the Little owls.
. Here is a reworked version based on all your feedback. I went for a 8x10?. Cheers everyone
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