I have recently returned from vacation and am posting this Least Chipmunk to represent the small critters of the world! The large granite rock outcropping under my bird feeders supports several species of rodents of which the chipmunk is the most abundant & conspicuous. Photographed during a break in the rain storms with the sky lightening just a bit.
Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 300 f4 L IS, 1/320, f5.6, ISO 1250. Leaning on the windowsill from inside the house.
Hi Nancy - Super image with great pose. IQ and excellent details. I like the comp and nice catch-light in the eye. I feel the high contrast with rich darker colors look awesome!
TFS
Hennie
Hi Nancy - I hope you have come through the storms and flooding unscathed. It's nice to see an under-represented animal. The IQ on this is great and your pp is very nice. I really like the comp and the detail in both the chipmunk and the log. The yellows seem a little strong on the chipmunk so I might consider reducing them slightly but that might have been its coloration.
Hi Nancy, super sharp, good details. You must have been close with the 300! For me, the BG is a bit distracting with the highlights dominating and all around the chipmunk. Since this is in your back yard, I'd suggest blocking the highlights with plants or something next time. Loi
Thank you all! Rachel, I'll look again at the colors on the chipmunk. And yes, I am safe and sound and above all the flooding at 8,000 ft on a granite outcropping. Enough of our surrounding roads are passable so I am not stuck here. Loi, I completely agree with you about the brightness surrounding the chipmunk. It is due to shiny wetness on the granite rocks. I did try to minimize it but all those tiny hairs prevented me from doing much. I love the 300 for its minimum focusing distance of 1.5 meters, and when I photograph from inside the house through an open window, the critters are more likely to continue their natural activity.
Love the pose, soft light and creamy BG here...I agree it would be good to drop some saturation in the yellow channel.
Nancy - did you adjust the luminance around the little guy at all? When viewing the thumbnail especially it looked like a massive halo around the subject. On this size it's less pronounced and does seem to be how the bokeh just panned out?
Love the clarity of this shot Nancy and also the look and grain of the wood. Yes there's a halo but I figured it to be the lichen covered rocks that these guys frequent before reading your description. I like the colors as they are and wouldn't change a thing about them. A browser crop from the top (to the top of the lighter areas on the right) removes most of the darker top and seems to reduce the affect of the halo. Never done it myself, but from samples I've seen this looks like it would print out pretty nice as a metallic print.
Small Wildlife
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