Grey squirrel

[Mike Poole]

Seeing all these fantastic big cat shots makes me more than a tad envious - our humble wildlife here in England has some serious evolutionary work to do!

Still, in the interest of playing the 'theme' game here's a little grey squirrel that gave a recent close up view

Canon 1d3, 500mm f4, ISO 800 1/320th, f4

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Mike, now you are making me feel guilty posting this, as I need to take the one we have 'out', as he is costing me an arm & a leg, eating all he bird food!

I like the crop and the shallow DoF works nicely on this, especially with the OOF vegetation in the BKG. Personally I find it a tad warm/saturated, but dropping the Blue will help in both the fur & eye. Classic pose with those front paws clasping a nut.

I agree on your comment about 'Big cats', but for me, it's all about the overall image and what it conveys, therefore it's not always the 'exotic' subject that makes a cracking shot, so keep plugging away at the local wildlife here in the UK, as they can be just as 'fantastic' as others around the world.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Mike - great pose and the comp works well. I agree with Steve's comment about the warmth and colors. The pov works really well here. For me, most of my photography is done while I travel so concentrates a bit more on the exotic. I have to start looking at local wildlife a bit more.

TFS,
Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Mike stunning shot with great detail and sharpness of a local wildlife species at your home.
Nicely processed with nice tones and detail .A very !!! pleasing BKG . Agree with Steve about his color suggestions.

In general too many " African images here " , makes it more difficult to post a stunning shot of the African wildlife , because the level of the images is quite high !!! I try to stay away as far as i can from them , but hard to avoid , specially i am going down there in just two weeks .

So i do find it good to see other than "big Cats" .But the big cats are somehow magnetic , even if photographed a million times or more .

TFS Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Mike,

I absolutely love your squirrel image and the DOF is great! Lovely detail and I like the colours (I have never seen this species so not sure whether they are too warm or not). What is this little one munching on?

Regarding big cats, I sometimes feel guilty posting so many of them. Because I love them so much, and because I grew up in Eastern Europe dreaming of them, I tend to seek their company a lot...I live in Big Five territory and often realise how fortunate I am, I never take this for granted. But I love all wildlife and enjoy seeing images of other species, including squirrels. And yes, it's not about the subject, it's about how you choose to portray the scene and convey the message, just like Steve said

So I hope to see more images from you, really enjoyed viewing, well processed and presented!

Kind regards,

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Mike

Love how the tail frames the image on LHS and top with a killer BG for the rest.

Amazing detail, wonder what it would look like with slighter more DOF, say f5 to get more of his left whiskers in focus...

Agree with Steve to bring down blues a bit.

[John Robinson]

Hi Mike
They still make good shots though ! despite the problems !!
They were released in the UK in 1876 in Henbury Park, Cheshire. So they didn't come on purpose !!
Goodone
John

[Mike Poole]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions everyone, appreciated as always. It was taken in quite 'warm' light for this part of the world, but as I was processing it I kept feeling it was a little bit to warm, but wherever I put the WB picker it kept reverting to settings similar to this one - I'll try another version with your ideas.

Only joking about the exotica shots - i'll get over there one day myself