Young Alpine Marmot looking at camera

[Markus Jais]

Young Alpine Marmot looking at me (or the camera).


They are soooo cute!


EOS 1DX, EF 4/200-400L IS 1.4x, at 400mm, handheld.
slight crop at the loft and top for a better composition.


1/640, ISO 500, f5.6


The 200-400 worked great. Perfect lens for those tame marmots. Sharpness is beyond any criticism with that lens.
With a prime (I was there a few weeks ago with the 4/300L IS) I would have missed many shots!


The freedom you have with the EOS 1DX and high ISO is fantastic. I go up to 6400 without thinking if I have too. There is some noise then but that can be dealt with in Lightroom.


This was shot with rear focus and AI Servo. Focused on the eye, then recompose. I couldn't live without rear focus anymore (I just started using it last Friday with those marmots).




Sharpening done only in LR 5.




I like those animals a lot. Very interesting ecology and behavior. Only Golden Eagles like them even more :-)

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Markus - cute pose and I'm glad you're getting such great results with the 200-400. Nice pov too. Personally, I would have upped the ISO to at least 800 and gone for a little bit more dof to 6.3 or 7.1 as the sharpness seems to drop off very slightly from the tip of the nose towards the back of the head. The 1DX could certainly handle it as you said you go much higher. Looks like the bg is also far enough away that you still would have had the creamy bokeh. Try opening up the midtones of the marmot slightly in a levels adjustment to about 1.10 or so. Just gives the image a bit more life. I have been using rear focus exclusively for at least 18 months and I agree, it is the way to go.

TFS,
Rachel

[Markus Jais]

Hi Markus - cute pose and I'm glad you're getting such great results with the 200-400. Nice pov too. Personally, I would have upped the ISO to at least 800 and gone for a little bit more dof to 6.3 or 7.1 as the sharpness seems to drop off very slightly from the tip of the nose towards the back of the head. The 1DX could certainly handle it as you said you go much higher. Looks like the bg is also far enough away that you still would have had the creamy bokeh. Try opening up the midtones of the marmot slightly in a levels adjustment to about 1.10 or so. Just gives the image a bit more life. I have been using rear focus exclusively for at least 18 months and I agree, it is the way to go.

TFS,
Rachel

Rachel, thanks for your comment. Very helpful. I agree that more DOF would have been better. I was simply too slow. Next time I will be prepared and set the 1DX to f8 or f10 for all shots as a default. It can easily handle ISO up to 6400 with the marmots.

Markus

[dankearl]

Terrific pose, I think a half inch off the bottom would look good, the OOF greens don't add much.

[edwardselfe]

I like this - it's quirky and interesting and nicely sharp. I have never seen one of these but I wonder if the image looks a little cold. Would warming it a little give a more appealing effect, even if not quite accurate. I'm really thinking about the area of sky/rock background at the top.
Ed

[Tim King]

I really like the pose, distant BG and wispy grasses in the FG.

[Steve Canuel]

Great pose and setting for this guy. I like it as presented.

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Markus,

I agree with Rachel with the dof, have seen it when I was going in a fast mode throgh all images. I certainly love the "Murmels" they are so cute and their whistle is just fantastic.
Thanks a lot for your PM. I Pm back and a second one, never mind,about the link, I do as well use the Rear Focus, just had it in my mind in German :) Also I am not the fastest right now. To much to get done fast :)

Great image

Enjoy your upcoming week

Ciao
Anette

[Markus Jais]

HI Anette,

thanks for the PM. I replied via email, your BPN mailbox seems to be full.

Markus

Hi Markus,

I agree with Rachel with the dof, have seen it when I was going in a fast mode throgh all images. I certainly love the "Murmels" they are so cute and their whistle is just fantastic.
Thanks a lot for your PM. I Pm back and a second one, never mind,about the link, I do as well use the Rear Focus, just had it in my mind in German :) Also I am not the fastest right now. To much to get done fast :)

Great image

Enjoy your upcoming week

Ciao
Anette

[Morkel Erasmus]

Love the pose and, as with the other one, the low angle and soft light here Markus.
I agree with Rachel's suggestions...and rear focus is going to change the way you photograph (for the better)...