I recently observed and photographed this fella fattening up on fallen crabapples in preparation for the upcoming winter hibernation season. It ate one after the other from a seemingly endless supply scattered along the ground.
Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, natural light, handheld (elbows braced to the ground), pretty much FF, NR to the BG.
Hi Daniel, great to see you posting here. Love the pose and low POV. Good details and sharpness as always. I find the bright red/pink on top a bit distracting and would suggest taking some off the top.
Hi Daniel - I always like to see your Wildlife posts and this is no exception. The vertical comp works well as does the low pov. The eating pose is great. I do think the overall saturation is too much and the eye is drawn to the fg grass and the crabapples in the bg rather than the groundhog. If it were mine I would reduce the saturation a fair amount and also open the midtones just slightly. Something along these lines.
Hi Daniel - Love the POV and colors. saturation in BG not to much of a nit for me, kind of like the way it picks up the red of the food it is snacking on. Though, Rachel's RP with the desaturated FG looks very good.
Regards, Hennie
Thanks guys! I too liked the way the reds above tied in with the apple, but I do like what you did here Rachel as the colour remains but does not pull the eye as much. For the groundhog itself I'd prefer something in between the two as it looked "saturated" more than the average individual.
Techs, framing and POV are great, but agree it does, although you were there, seem a little 'colourful/puchy'. The rendition you capture in the fur is excellent, you can imagine you hands just disappearing into the dense coat, something that will see him through the Winter nicely I guess? I also like the clutching front paws and the one eye, as he pauses to watch you.
Just looking at the coat there is a lot of Purple & Magenta coming through, likewise the blue in the forehead. I think if you balance those out and have another image for the richer BKG, then combine, it then perhaps will address all thoughts, concerns & wishes. The FG does need to be richer as you say, but again, going a bit more 'tonally' rather than perhaps vibrancy, but Daniel this is just my take.
Please post more here, it's great to have more diversity.
Love the low angle and pose, Daniel. Great colours, though I prefer Steve's repost personally.
I know the groundhog pose seems upright, but the skew horizon OOF FG bugs me a tad, could it stand a slight rotation?
Groundhog Eating A Crabapple.
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