Only Four...

[Arthur Morris]

This image of a Snow Monkey family huddled together was created on the February 25, 2014 at 12:26pm on the Japan in Winter IPT with the Gitzo 3532 LS carbon fiber tripod, the Mongoose M3.6 head, the Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Lens with Internal 1.4x Extender (with the internal extender in place at 345mm) and the Canon EOS-1D X. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +3 1/3 stops off the snow: 1/125 sec. at f/14 in Manual mode. Color temperature 7,000K.

Central Sensor/AI Servo-Surround/Rear Focus AF on the lowest monkey’s eyes and re-compose. Click here to see the latest version of the Rear Focus Tutorial.

To compare this image with my Snow Monkey family portrait that made the final round of judging in last year's BBB WPOTY competition see the "One Better?" blog post here.

As for the image, don't be shy; all comments are welcome.

[Ashleigh Scully]

oh my gosh thats amazing! this is so beautiful! I love the eyes and they all are showing so much emotion too. Great capture!

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Artie - I saw this one on your blog and loved it. Great comp, detail and color. Exp looks perfect. I think their huddled positions as well as the blue tint to the bg snow help to convey the cold. Certainly looks like you had a great trip and a productive one.

TFS,
Rachel

[Arthur Morris]

oh my gosh thats amazing! this is so beautiful! I love the eyes and they all are showing so much emotion too. Great capture!

Thanks Ashleigh. I should have mentioned that the whole story of the image capture is in the blog post; it is quite interesting as it involved me practically begging.....

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Artie, read your blog and loved the story behind it. I saw a little blue tint in the BG, is it my imagination? The exposure is perfect, i assume it was an overcast day as you used + 3 1/3 stop off the snow. F14 was a great choice here as you had everything in sharp focus for the group shot. TFS. Loi

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Outstanding clarity, sharpness and exposure Artie, Love their expressions and how they are huddled together. This is AWESOME.

[dankearl]

Beautiful and a good read on your blog about the process.
I must admit, I prefer last years, (3 vs. 4?) and the more plaintive expressions, but this is well done also.
I do kind of wish there was a better BG for these, they seem a bit like studio portraits…..

[Nancy Bell]

Truly spectacular! Love that each face has such a different look and that the details are rich in color and sharpness in both the faces and the fur! Those fur coats look so thick and full enough to keep them warm in the snow. I wonder about making the pupils in the eyes of the smallest monkey more visible?

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Artie, nice cool image, the huddle and overall comp works extremely well, having a white BKG isolates the subjects perfectly with no distractions and so your eyes are focused purely on the subjects, spot on. At present I'm away in Whistler, but on the laptop, applying some selective mid tone to a few faces and fur seems to bring out a little more depth, but with an uncalibrated monitor I could be wrong? Detail seems to be lost within the fur of the top left monkey in parts, is this due to the steam of the pool?

TFS
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

Lovely moment captured here Artie! Steve's made some good suggestions above re tonal depth and fur detail, but overall I'd love having this in my collection.
FWIW I like the vertical one that made BBC finals more (by an inch).

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Artie,
nice moment you got in camera…… what are they looking at, a photographer fella making Jackass ?
Good work in PP ,but i would also suggest some more mid tone would bring out even more detail.

TFS Andreas

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Artie,

very nice image and comp of these great monkeys. Image looks great to me

Caio
Anette