theme - Red Fox portrait

[John Whaley]

I found another fox this morning while out scouting for the Snowy Owl I have heard is in the area. This one was captured from the best blind ever invented, a Ford F-150 4x4. He was smelling something and not as shy as usual. Too close to get the entire fox in the frame. Handheld on the window, Manual, 1/2000, f7.1, auto ISO - 4000, +2/3 ev, 500 F4 E, D850. Processed in LR then moved to PS. Worked on the eyes a bit to reduce reflections in the tops of the pupils. Removed a few flecks of dirt from his chin. Separated the fox and applied Neatimage to the Fox ( minimal ) and the bg ( more ) for nr. Sharpened the fox with the PS smart sharpen filter. Slight vignette applied. cc

Attachment 173081

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nice shot, I think I would eliminate the two tiny white specs in the eyes. I am a little surprised at the background, it looks a little grainy to me. Nevertheless I find the image spellbinding I keep going back to look again. The coats of foxes in USA/Canada are more resplendent than those in UK.
I was wondering if I traded my Volvo XC60 for a Ford F-150 4x4 maybe I would get closer to foxes over here WDYT

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi John - What a great close up with excellent eye contact. If it were mine I would reduce the oranges and yellows a bit. Nice details and sharpness.

TFS,
Rachel

[John Whaley]

Thanks for the feedback. Toned down the orange / yellow a bit and worked on the eyes. Added another round of nr?

Attachment 173094

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello John,

Beautiful Fox portrait and such lovely pose! Nice techs, well exposed frame with good detail.

Framing works very well. I like the head angle and eye contact. A bit reluctant to comment on colours though as I have never seen this species in real life.
Not bad at all for ISO 4000 Still waiting for my D850 which I ordered over a month ago, was hoping uncle Nikon would deliver before Xmas

Thank you so much for sharing, I enjoyed viewing

Kind regards,

[Glenn Pure]

Really beautiful work here, John. I like what you've done in the repost too, but don't know the species or what the correct colour should be either. Detail in this one is stunning even on that white fur and well-chosen DOF. Hope you can get more although hard to imagine how you could better this shot.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Not too sure about the extra sharpening. The NR on the background is good but it looks a little awkward on the periphery of the fur, I suspect a more loosely defined selection with feathering might help.

[Stuart Philpott]

Hey John wow this is one detailed image,for me only one nit or it would be the all but perfect pov. That's it john and I know there was no get out jail card,but man I wish you were lower here.

It's a properly gorgeous frame though John detail is exquisite. I love seeing your red foxes,they are so similar and so different to ours in blighty. It's all but a privalidge to look at an image like this so detailed and that look to you to wrap it off.

Mate I don't think we have spoken before happy chimbo what ever you believe have a wonderful break

stu

[Loi Nguyen]

beautiful fox. The rP makes the fox popped more. The BG is a bit distracting for portrait, but not much you can do about it. Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Quite a nice shoot John, but to me it's over sharpened in the majority of the body, but not by much although the forehead is starting to look crunchy. Why have you reverted back to sharpening via PS and not through LR, as the results are far better based on the RAWs you sent through earlier?? The eyes look better in the OP to me and I feel the colours albeit vibrant, look true.

TFS
Steve