It was raining this morning, and I was working in my study, when I heard my wife say "Come! Quick and Quiet!"
A few days ago a wind storm blew one of our neighbor's trees into our backyard. This morning Joanne happened to look out the back door and spotted this slightly bedraggled Red Fox on the downed trunk, some five feet above the ground. He (she?) was kind enough to walk back and forth on the trunk long enough for me to go grab the camera and take a few frames. He seemed like a curious cat checking out the latest addition to our garden furniture. He then went back into the thick undergrowth behind our house and took a nap, staying there for at least several hours and occasionally looking up to see what we were doing. We've had brief looks at him/her a few times in the past months, and suspect he/she may reside near a stream bank a quarter of a mile away. Sometimes at night we can hear him yipping. This is no match for Karl's gorgeous winter fox images, but it's a first for me, especially since I generally shoot nothing but birds.
D7200, 80-400 VR @ 350mm, ISO 1600, 1/500s @ f/6.3 manual, HH through glass door.
Hi Bill - Great to see you posting in Wildlife and how lucky you were to have this visitor. Love the walking the setting of this one with it walking the trunk and then having the nice mostly green bg at enough distance so that the branches in the bg aren't a distraction. Sharpening wet fur can be difficult and it can often look oversharpened. I think it is borderline here and might back off the sharpening on the head slightly. You did really well shooting through the glass. Hopefully, you'll have some more sightings too.
Thanks Rachel. My first round of USM seemed slightly insufficient, so I added a bit of selective sharpening. It may be over the edge in a few spots. Oh, I forgot to mention that I also ran a little Gaussian blur on the bg. I ran my normal NR on the BG, and Levels on the subject, and then added a 25% opacity layer of Efix Tonal Contrast. I also did some color correction to fix a very cool image resulting from the rainy morning, and probably the glass door.
very nice Bill,my favourite animal here in the UK,love how it stands out from the BG,some nice detail,the look on its face is priceless,if mine ,maybe shorten the branch near its front leg.well done.
Bill have seen a lot of Foxes but never on a perch like this one of yours,love the wet almost fed up! expression.Did very well with the IQ through the glass.
Hi Bill, I quite lie the wet & bedraggled look, emphasises the location/atmosphere.
Sadly shooting through the window some clarity & detail has been lost, but I appreciate this was more of a 'grab' shot. If IQ allows going slightly tighter I feel would be better. Removing the Blue, Purple & Magenta cast brings back some of the scene, likewise you could perhaps add a hint of saturation? Having the face with a bit more of a head turn to the left would have been more engaging with the viewer.
Personally I would not use Gaussian Blur, NR is more than adequate if required and at 1600 was it that noticeable?? Gaussian has a tendency to make the area too smooth, hence perhaps questions raised.
Don't forget to comment on other threads too as we tend to work on 1 post to 3-5 threads replies.
Very pleasing image I like the pose and the narrative. I get the impression the image is just a little weighted towards the dark elements and also just a little cold.
Hi Bill -- Lovely pose and a nice perch , natural perches makes the subject simply stand out . I like the way you managed to retain the feel of a rainy day . Also you managed a good image considering you have taken it behind the glass . Some good suggestions regarding the sharpening and colour cast but overall a lovely image .
To me shooting through any glass is a big no-no. Understand your subject was very weary- many shoot a few through the slider and then open up a bit just enough to stick the lens through...
Love the comp and setting though, some good tech advice above.
Not every day one sees a wet fox in a tree!
Thanks guys. I agree about shooting through glass. In this instance it was a case of shooting through the door for a record shot, or getting no shot at all. It was a swing door, not a slider, and as soon as I opened it he was gone in a flash.
Bill a fox up a tree,I've had that joy once in my years,we were actually spell bound it was upwards of 20feet. I appreciate the comments proceeding about glass,but you know that, mind for me you got something special. I love the bedraggled look the slight off viewer gaze.
As a guy learning all this Bill, I can offer little just a pair of eyes and thoughts,I find him almost detached from his surroundings. Bill maybe it's the blur Steve mused, I simply don't know I don't have any expertise to draw upon,just gut honest feelings. Maybe taking the processing by another route might help?? We creatively use dof to make our subjects pop,which I love,but here I am unsure he does pop no doubt about that but something is making me want him or her more anchored with the background behind him or her
Bill,on so many levels I am out of my depth you know all this way better than I,I know it mate But still that niggle, even though I am barely able to articulate it,maybe it's the sharpening I honestly don't know!! I just have that gut feeling that there is more here than you have portrayed,and a will for you to explore that with your skill base.
Bill thanks for posting it's such a unique image is can only be a complete joy to see,and has been for me truly so.