Red Fox Kit

[Ashleigh Scully]

Hi -

Ashleigh asked me to post this for her today - am typing up her notes:

"Red Fox Kit photographed at the Great Swamp Nat'l Refuge last April which is really close to my house. I was laying down in the gravel to get this perspective. There was a small building behind the kit so I tried a wider aperture hoping that I could blur it out, and I used a high shutter speed to compensate for that and also the noontime sun. I did some minor contrast and saturation adjustments later and cropped about 15% off. I also cloned out a tick from the kit's eye. This is going to be my first published photograph. It will be in the June issue of National Geographic Kids Magazine."

Canon EOS 7D
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM


ISO 320 | f/4 | 1/2500s

In hindsight, she could've stopped down a lot more but I think she likes the results. Also looks like her sensor was on the nose. She chose not to clone out the grass over the nose, fwiw...

Interested in your thoughts.

Thanks!

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Ashleigh,
sweet shot with a dreamy pose and look of this cute fox.The grass stem in the mouth is extraordinary , this makes the image work very well for me.
Crop is nice , like wise the overall tonality , but i would go for some more mid tone.
An important fact is that the focus is lying in the wrong place as yourself know, i do not think you can overcome this .Sadly.

TFS Andreas

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Asleigh, I love this shot too. You already know that the focus was on the nose and not the eyes. Yes, you could have stopped down a lot more even F8. You mentioned you cropped only 15% off, so you must have been quite close. Congrats on getting it published!!! This is more than a lot of us can say for ourselves. I think you could do another selective sharpening around the eyes. Excellent exposure for a noontime sun. TFS. Loi

[Nancy Bell]

Congrats on getting this published!! The pose is darling and as mentioned, the grass in the mouth makes this even better. Good low POV and you accomplished totally obscuring the building. I would consider cropping just a bit more off the OOF foreground, putting more attention on the adorable face. Another thought, maybe darken the eyes a bit, as that would enhance them more. Wonderful that you were able to get so close. Obviously you used good technique.

[Ashleigh Scully]

Hi thanks for your comments. Yes I was about 6 feet away. It was a very habituated fox kit.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Ashleigh - Congrats on the publication! That's a great accomplishment. The grass in the mouth takes this to another level. I wonder if raising yourself just slightly to get the bottom of the eye in the shot would have improved it. It does look like the sharpest point is the nose mouth. I tend not to use intermediate ISOs such as 320 or 640 sticking instead with 100, 400, 800, etc. At some point I probably read a reason as to why one should stick to the traditional ISOs but I don't recall what the reason was. When you have a cooperative subject like this, after you get at least one good shot, it's great to experiment with different dof/aperture settings.

Congrats again and TFS,
Rachel

[Jamie Douglas]

Hi Ashleigh, on the publication. You said this was taken close to home so... get yourself back out there at some point soon. Your own critique knocked the nail on the head but move on from it making a mental note to keep an eye on the settings when you are in one of these cute and cuddly awwww moments. I've been there with foxes and I know how easy it is to get lost in the moment. You get low, they come in close and you totally forget to do the mental check of all your settings and focus. We worry the moment wont last but if the fox is comfortable then take a second to check settings but also to enjoy the moment. Life isn't always about the photograph - well ok it is .

Great work

Jamie

[keith mitchell]

Congratulations Ashleigh, looks like you got up very close to get this ,agree about a little more work on the eyes but that apart a excellent image, very well done.

Keith.