Under mom

[Nancy Bell]

I also am reviewing some older files. I photographed this baby Vervet Monkey in Uganda in 2010. He/she is still clinging to mom's belly but looking out at the world.

Canon 40D, Canon 400 f4 DO IS + Canon 1.4x, 1/250, f6.3, exposure compensation +1/3, ISO 800.

Comments and critiques most appreciated.

[dankearl]

Cute photo and I like the comp.
Too bad the DOF didn't allow for the Mom's fur to be in focus all around.
I think some work on the eyes to eliminate the large reflections would make the
eyes and the photo have more impact.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Nancy - Cute image! I think if it were mine I would crop a little tighter to remove the area to the lhs and have only mom's fur as a bg. I would actually back off on the sharpening on mom's fur, at least the patch on the upper right that seems sharper. There's a little blue/cyan coming in above the baby's chin. Overall, nicely seen and captured.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hey Nancy, the PP on this has just taken a huge step forward, excellent work. Whatever you did, or change, keep it up.
This is very endearing, love it and based on the 40D it just really cool. I'm now wondering if the MKIV may need a look by Canon based on this image . I agree with Rachel about going tighter, I'm on the laptop so any colour issues I will leave to others, but I wonder if you just add some mid tone to the face, and dropping the Highlights & Exposure just pulls back a bit more depth. One last touch was adding some selective USM to the face, but all subjective.

My repost maybe too tight, but I liked the way the fur surrounded the baby, just a thought.

Nice work Nancy.

TFS
Steve

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Nancy, cute image. Steve's RP brought out so much more details and I love the tight crop. TFS. Loi

[keith mitchell]

Hi Nancy your original post looked very good, but I do think Steve as moved it up another level.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Nancy , this is great overall , and really cute looking baby .
Great IQ for the old cam , nicely processed .Good tonal tweaks by Steve , as usual , but i think ,as himself , too tight for my liking.
I would just loose the OOF LHS and some of RHS , without placing the subject in the center of the frame. Just my thoughts.

Nicely seen .
TFS Andreas

[Nancy Bell]

Thanks all for your helpful comments and suggestions. I played with the cropping and worried that if too tight it would lose the comprehension of being surrounded by mom. I like Steve's post for the baby, but wonder it makes that OOF part of mom a bit too blue/gray? And I also tried to reduce the highlights in the eyes, but could not come up with something natural, especially since that is the main focus of the image. But these suggestions have encouraged me to work some more.

[Ashleigh Scully]

Hi this is such a cute shot. The face is captured so well and I like the repost, but I wonder if it takes the setting away too much. Without knowing it's the baby's Mom there I mean. It almost could be him looking backwards through his legs :)

[Morkel Erasmus]

Cuteness overload! I quite like the shallow DOF, and though Steve's crop works I find I prefer the OP, Nancy.
The engaging gaze and soft glint in the eyes make it for me.