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Thread: Snowshoe Hare

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    Default Snowshoe Hare

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    I’ve seen a few hare images on BPN lately and thought I’d add my own. This snowshoe hare, in its summer coat, was captured last summer in the Eagle’s Nest Wilderness in Colorado. The hare was in a heavily shaded area as I took the picture. I had only a couple of seconds to get in position and take the shot while the hare stood still. I remember thinking at the time that I wanted to be sure there was enough DOF to get the nose, eyes, and ears sharp and in focus so I adjusted the aperture to 7.1 (probably should have been 8.0 or more). There was not enough time for further adjustments before the hare moved. So, the tech spec’s are not what I would have preferred, especially the slow shutter speed. The focus point is on the hare’s right eye (closest to left side of image).

    Canon 5D III
    100-400 II at 300 mm
    Evaluative metering, AWB, Aperture Priority
    f/7.1
    ISO 640 (should have 1250 or even 1600 or 2000)
    Shutter speed at 1/40 s (would have preferred a much faster shutter speed)

    Processed in Capture One Pro: Slight crop (top,bottom and left), reduced highlights and lifted shadows,
    sharpened

    Thanks in advance for your comments.
    Ken
    Last edited by Ken Pollock; 03-26-2017 at 03:35 PM.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Ken the image has an RGB colour profile, for all web or projected images you need to have an sRGB colour profile embedded. This is an option when Exporting from CP1, otherwise the image may not be shown to it's best and could have a colour shift. I suggest you re-export with the correct embedded colour profile and RP or amend in the OP.

    Steve

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    Just lovely Ken the head on stare alert ears pov, and the habitat make this a wonderful hare image for me. Looks like you were threading the needle a bit here no easy shot and for such a slow SS the detail is great to my eyes. All in all very cool to see especially in the summer coat. i'm not very familiar with them Ken a joy for me to see very different from the guys i've been chasing most of the weekend..
    Cheers for posting this,I do love hares great to see another species..
    stu

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    Steve,

    Thanks for catching the wrong color profile. I replaced the original image with one that has correct color profile.

    Ken

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    Stu,

    Thanks for the nice comments. I was pretty lucky that the hare stopped long enough for me to get the shot. I do wish I would had more time to increase the ISO and adjust the aperture, but I'm glad that he cooperated as much as he did.

    Ken

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Ken, the OP now has more depth, but to me it appears too cool & with a magenta cast. I would look at the original RAW to get a better WB, which in turn should reduce any casts. Also dropping the Blue will help.

    I might have gone portrait here Ken to avoid the distracting elements flanking either side, but appreciate time was not on your side, rarely is in Wildlife. Techs wise yes more ISO and I would have gone to f/5.6 to help the SS too.

    Never ideal to go from Landscape to Portrait as you are just throwing away truck loads of data and the IQ suffers, but this may help based on your RP of the OP???

    TFS
    Steve

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Ken - Agree with your self-critique on the techs and Steve has sorted the color issue in his rp. Nice head view and I like the alert pose and eye contact of the hare.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Hi Steve,

    Thanks for the comments. I can see that warming the image helps. I also like the portrait view. I had tried a portrait crop with a 2x3 aspect ratio but didn't like it. You've used more of a square aspect ratio that really improves it. As for the going to f/5.6, I'm pretty sure there wouldn't have been enough DOF to keep both the nose and ears in focus but it certainly would have helped with shutter speed.
    Thanks again,
    Ken

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    Thank you, Rachel.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    I'm pretty sure there wouldn't have been enough DOF to keep both the nose and ears in focus but it certainly would have helped with shutter speed.
    Ken, for me I would be happy for nose to eyes and let the ears drift off, the key issue is retaining SS, as no matter what Software you have, a soft image will always be a soft image and so striving for a sharp image is the goal. Trying to retain the ears will only add to your problems, so I don't feel the ears are important, unless you are shooting with either a 1DXMK2 or 5DMK2, where ISO issues are more history now. Yes you can shoot at a low SS, but you need to have good technique to pull it off, so if the camera allows, then to me raising the ISO for SS is worth doing as any Noise can be addressed in PP. In addition, a well Exposed image will show little Noise too.

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    Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator Gabriela Plesea's Avatar
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    Hello Ken,

    Apologies for coming in so late. I realise there is little for me to add as you already have lots of feedback and advice from Mr. Kaluski. So please forgive me if I repeat a few things.

    First I would like to say the new crop certainly works better, it eliminates the busy environment and places emphasis on the subject. And Steve is right, shutter speed is the most important factor that determines image quality. I do realise one might not always have time to reconsider camera settings because of the brevity of a sighting, it happens to all of us. Some prefer auto ISO for this reason. (I don't!). But try keep in mind in the future, your subject might make a sudden move which you would like to capture, at 1/40s it would be unsharp. I always try to anticipate the behaviour/movement of my subjects and for that reason I allow for it in terms of shutter speed. Regarding colours and colour casts ( as well as other things) Steve's advice to me in 2013 was to process an image and then walk away from it, then go back the next day and look with fresh eyes. It often works:)

    Just sharing my thoughts, and I really think your subject is adorable and those ears are too cute! There is a quizzical expression on his face that makes this image, a kind of wonder and innocence I associate with the species. Was his nose twitching at all?

    Thank you so much for sharing Ken, and I so look forward to more from you in this forum. I enjoyed reading the exchanges above, always something to learn!

    Kind regards,
    Gabriela Plesea

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    Steve,

    Thanks for your input and guidance. I normally try to keep the shutter speed at 1/1250 s for faster but in this case I just couldn't get there in the time I had to get the image. I need more practice!

    Thanks again,
    Ken

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    Hi Gabriela,

    Thanks for your comments. I normally shoot in aperture priority and set the ISO manually, adjusted to get the shutter speed I want while keeping it as low as I can. I just didn't get it done in this case. I need to keep practicing.

    As for the nose, I really don't remember if it was twitching. It all happened very fast.

    Thanks again for your comments,
    Ken

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  15. #14
    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    I need more practice!
    Ken the more you can get out the better, your techs will become almost second nature and getting to know your camera will certainly do that, as you will know the pros & cons, i.e. It's limitations. The 5D is a good camera, but now technology has really moved on and so, as you found out, it may hamper your image capture purely down to capability. However, I would just push things as you could surprise yourself.

    Happy shooting and have fun.

    Steve

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