Gray Fox Kit

[John Mack]

Gray fox kit in early morning light hanging out. You can see the ear of one of its siblings on the left side of the kit just barely poking out. The vegetation around the frame is not ideal. I did not want to touch or remove any of it just for a photograph. I have been watching these guys from a distance with binoculars. They are quite big already at least compared to the photograph here. They are five kits and two adults.

Canon 5D Mark III
Sigma 150-600 Contemporary
600mm
ISO 800
f6.3
1/1600sec

[haseeb badar]

Hi John -- What a cute little character , and nice warm light ! Must have been a real patient approach from you to get them out and comfortable . I feel it is a bit strong in contrast and also fully respect your approach in not cloning out the unwanted vegetation but the leaf poking behind its whisker is not ideal at all and similarly the ear of the other pup. A nice image though .

TFS !

[keith mitchell]

Hi John,agree with Haseeb about that bit of vegetation but do understand it must be very difficult with these cute little chaps making an appearance in all that vegetation ,you have done very well getting this.

Keith.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi John - There's a cuteness factor here. Again, I would look at the saturation and contrast. There's too much orange and red. It also appears to me that the light was a bit harsh and the image made warmer. The kit's eyes are narrow like it's looking into brighter light. I took the image into ACR, adjusted the WB, reduced the oranges, and then took it into PS and made a few more adjustments. It would be better to work from the RAW especially to deal with the contrast. I'd be happy to take a look if you want to shoot it to me through Dropbox or something like it.

TFS,
Rachel

[John Mack]

Thanks Rachel, This looks blue to me eyes.

[Rachel Hollander]

John- Thanks for the RAW. The biggest issue was the WB. Here's my take.

[John Mack]

Thanks again Rachel.

[Steve Kaluski]

Is the image a crop or FF no-one says, plus is the lens to it's full extent or is there more you could use to help avoid the vegetation on the LHS? If the cubs are OK with you and providing you are low, can you not get a tad closer??? Was moving left not an option to get a better angle? Was the light coming from behind you John, as the eyes are squinting in the brightness, a slight head turn may have helped.

If this is morning light then I would go with the OP but address the colour better, the RP to me appears/looks cold and lacks the colour depth I would expect in early morning light. I'm surprised with the DoF, the face appears sharp, nose to eyes yet the paws are soft, but both look on the same plane of focus? Any more below, as the placement is again just too tight at the foot for me, this is where cropping 'in camera' is key with a % left for final cropping. The BKG is busy and is what it is, however with some simple processing I'm sure the BKG can be addressed to a point and to provide more standout of the cub. I would look to shooting more of the cubs away from the den - in the vegetation, yes this is very time consuming and you may get only a few frames, but worth it I can assure you and perhaps better backdrops. So putting the time in is key, but also working out angles, sun position and favourite spots too can only help plan the shots.

TFS
Steve

[John Mack]

Hey Steve, This is full frame and the lens is racked out all the way. This was as close as i could get and as far left as possible. Thank you for all of your advice.