While on an all-night nesting owl observation vigil with my beloved Powerful Owls in the lower Blue Mountains near home, I was hearing some rustling kind of noises near midnight. Near where I was laying
on the ground stands a tall, burnt-out, old gum tree. Inside it were a colony of these carnivorous Aussie marsupials known as Antechinus (Antechinus stuarti - common name: Brown Antechinus). THe males live
for only about one year and usually drop dead not long after a mass mating orgy.
I was able to quietly stand next to the tree and use my red light and macro lens (flash on camera) to wait for one to pop its little head through a big crack to check out of the coast was clear.
They are nocturnal, so you cannot find them in the daytime. They were also wary of me, and I managed just a few images after midnight, this at 00:23hrs in the middle of a freezing
winter night. I also had to photograph it at a 90-degree angle. So technically the little marsupial was sideways for this shot.
1DMkIII, 100mm f/2.8 USM macro
ISO 400, f/11, 1/60th, hand held
580EX II set to +2/3EC
Hope you like this little munchkin. Sorry, not sure if you'd accept this for the theme, feel free to change the title then.
Last edited by Ákos Lumnitzer; 08-19-2015 at 02:04 AM.
Hi Akos lovely shot , so cute the mouse peeking out of the hollow tree .
Nice detail in the main subject and the tones do look ok too. I just might drop the reds , visible to the left of the mouse , wonder where the reds are coming from.
I can also see another crop as per Rachel!
Hi Akos, this is such a cool sighting and you did remarkably well to get this image. I'd be pleased with it for sure! Well composed and great eye contact. Nice colours and the wood does have some character!
TFS.
Sanjeev
Thank you for the feedback!
The reds, Andreas, are leftover from my torch with the red filter used to be able to focus on this little fellow.
Initially, I also desaturated the bottom bright patch which you guys mentioned, but decided to leave it as it is.
Something to ponder for sure. I can see how it draws the viewer's eye away. It did mine too.
Hi Akos -- very cute image ! very nicely processed , but certainly the crop recommended by Rachel should make this look even better. but overall very nicely done . TFS !
Hey Akos, you certainly are ticking the boxes for different species posted in the various Forums, cool.
Parking the crop to one side, albeit that loosing some image content at the foot creates a more monochromatic surroundings, I think having a darker background flanking the subject with give more emphasis and focus, especially as it's so central, WDYT?
This is so, so cute, Akos! Love the way he is peeping at you
Awesome capture, nice techs, well exposed. I like the composition, if this was mine I would just darken the orange bit at the bottom of the image to make is less distracting.
Does he tweak his nose constantly as he sniffles the air?
Will have to look again on the big screen when home, away right now but this was my "good night" image, just enjoyed it so much, thank you for sharing