Ooop's. Dropped it!

[keith mitchell]

Red Squirrel.
Nikon D4
Nikon300ml 2.8
1/5000@f8
iso 2000

Taken courtesy of my mate Andy. Did not see the falling nut until I was sorting out my pictures so I can't claim any skill in getting it.

[Carl Walker]

Hi Keith
Love the pose and comp. On my screen it looks like you may need a bit of NR on the BG and you might want to look at toning down the blown white areas and try and get some more detail there. Great image TFS

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Keith, like the image and well caught by you. Good detail/sharpness, although the whites look a little hot, would suggest a little selective adjustment on that. Probably the ISO could have come down to say 1000-1600 and you still would have had enough SS to capture the moment. The perch has character and a pleasing BKG, but it does convey more of a set-up than a natural appearance IMHO, sorry. The pose is a killer and I get the feeling from the expression the squirrel knows you are there and wished he hadn't dropped the nut, definitely a fun image.

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Keith , i go with Steve about being a great fun shot with the expression explained by Steve.
I personally like the set up and the crop with the very nice BKG.
I would also agree about the whites looking a bit hot, but would go further and think the whole lighter half of the image needs to be darker for more tonal and color depth.
Title is well selected .

TFS Andreas

[keith mitchell]

Thanks Carl,Steve,Andreas,critique much appreciated, I had been trying to take picture of Squirrels jumping and forgot to re do my settings hence the high ISO/shutter speed ,put it down to my age. On second look must agree the image is a bit light ,hope the repost is an improvement.

Thanks Keith.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Keith good improvement , but i would mask out the shadows , cause they look plugged now.

Andreas

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Keith

I gave it a try:

Curves, midtone boost, lots of burning and dodging.

Can't get more detail in the eye...

Andre

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Keith - fun pose and dropping the acorn definitely adds to the image. You received good advice above and the rp is an improvement.

TFS,
Rachel

[keith mitchell]

Thanks to you all, certainly a very good forum to learn.

Keith.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Keith, the RP is a good step forward and it's great to see you developing more, as it comes through in your postings, great work, keep it up. I think Andre has added some more tonal depth to the image, albeit suitable, but that is all that it needs, refinements. Keep progressing with Photoshop, it's the way to go and your images will be so much better Keith.

[Brendon Cremer]

Lovely image Keith, the RP definately is a step in the right direction, great image all together.

[keith mitchell]

Thanks a lot to you all,I have learnt a lot from your comments and tips,Andreas I am looking into what you said regarding masking shadows and seeing if I can get this old brain working.
Thanks again much appreciated.

[Steve Kaluski]

I am looking into what you said regarding masking shadows and seeing if I can get this old brain working.

Keith, if you want some help, just call me when convenient and I can walk you through the very simple steps and we can have you airborne very quickly and flying solo.

[Neil Burton]

Anyway you can setup a couple of remote flashes, would certainly help on sunny days like this and something I need to try over the winter. dont mind a bit of noise in backgrounds, noise free is a definate nit of Digital processing. I do like the overall contrast of the OP, just those blacks to look at and I am sure the D4 RAW can handle a bit of pulling.

[edwardselfe]

Great shot - RPs are better. I think the detail/contrast on the twig/branch is too much and I would reduce slightly.
Ed