Etosha rodent

[Glenn Pure]

Thought I'd stay with the 'different' theme. This is possibly a Black-tailed Tree Rat taken in Namutoni camp in Etosha National Park, Namibia in May. However, I'd greatly appreciate confirmation or otherwise of the ID. There seem to be quite a few of these around in the trees in the camp. They are nocturnal hence the flash shot (just using the camera's built in flash). This one popped out of the crack of a dead tree right in front of me so I couldn't resist a shot. I think it is rather cute. This is about three quarters of the frame.

Thanks for looking and any comments you may have.

Technical: Canon 80D with Lens EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 278mm handheld. Manual exposure 1/40, f8, ISO 1600. Processed in Canon DPP 4 (digital lens optimiser @ 50, Sharpness = 3, crop, lighting adjustments, default NR) then exported 16 bit TIFF to Photoshop Elements. Lighting adjustments to animal where contrast boosted. Also enlarged and softened catchlight in eye. Sharpened (sharpness function: remove Gaussian blur, radius = 0.4 pixels, 50%) after final size reduction.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Glenn -- What a cute looking subject and that leaf in its hands adds to the image. Nicely framed and looks quite sharp considering the ss. Looks strong on contrast because of the flash lighting and the whites on its arms are on the borderline i guess. That glitter in its eye because of the flash is the one thing which i am 50-50 abt it, though I have tried and experimented with flashed eyes myself for different images . Nice variety here and TFS !

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Glenn - Definite cuteness factor with the pose. Hopefully, Gabriela will take a look and help with the id. She's our resident rodent fan. Yes, it has a strong flashed look but that seems to have been the only way to capture it. I'm ok with the contrast. Sharpness looks good too.

TFS,
Rachel

[William Dickson]

Very nice Glenn. I like this one. Great detail you got on the subject and the grass adds. I also like the crop you chose.

Will

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like this one too Glenn, good details, the leaf makes for added interest. My only suggestion would be to see if you could soften the highlight in the eye

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Glenn,
I am so excited to see this! Definitely a Black Tailed Tree Rat ( Thallomys Paedulcus) and oh-such-a-beauty They are arboreal, make huge nests out of little branches in tall trees (also make use of cavities in trees, especially when they have babies) and active mostly at night. Rather vegetarian, their diet is based on sprouting leaves and seed pods. The species benefits tremendously from a law that protects the acacia tree (Camel Thorn Tree in particular). Small carnivores like Wild Cats, but also snakes prey on them.

Rachel, they do occur at Tswalu too

Lovely image Glenn, and great DoF - good thinking! Colours are spot-on IMO. Lovely detail. I like the framing too. I wish I had such a good image of this species, I am jealous But so happy to view this tonight. So many people pitch up their tent under those Camel Thorn Trees and never notice those gorgeous little creatures. Really pleased you did, and made the effort to capture an image to share with us - congratulations!

So yes, Rachel is absolutely right - you made my evening

Warmest regards,

[Glenn Pure]

Thank you Haseeb, Rachel, Will, Jon and Gabriela. I'm not keen on the 'flashed' look here but not a lot I can do about it. Hope you enjoyed something a bit different anyway.

Gabriela, I'm glad you like these little critters. I saw quite a few in the trees in the evenings around camp while looking for owls... but didn't see any owls. Probably just as well for these rats as I'm sure they'd be a good meal for an owl too.

Cheers
Glenn

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Glenn, cute and nice to see something different, but you did need to back off on the flash, probably around -2EV on the flash, you just need a hint of fill-in and it would also help on the SS too. I would darken the BKG and the brighter whites to get some more depth into the image.

TFS
Steve

[Glenn Pure]

Hi Glenn, cute and nice to see something different, but you did need to back off on the flash, probably around -2EV on the flash, you just need a hint of fill-in and it would also help on the SS too. I would darken the BKG and the brighter whites to get some more depth into the image.

TFS
Steve

Thanks Steve. This was after dark - apologies for not making it clearer. The only source of significant light was the flash so no choice here. SS doesn't matter given in the sub-millisecond length of the flash pulse. I did try playing with the lighting differential between subject and foreground but simply couldn't get something I was happy with. Maybe should have tried harder.