Meerkat in the Kalahari

[Dumay de Boulle]

Hey everyone. This is another image from my many visits to the Meerkat colonies over a 6 month period. I liked this one mainly because of the pose.

7D MKII
Sigma 120-300 @ 300mm
ISO 500
TV 1/5000
AV f5

Thanks for looking.

[John Mack]

Very nice. Killer point of view with a killer background. Like the pose on the meerkat.

[greg cowle]

Agree this is a great pose. Like the composition and background.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Dumay, nice to see you post again:)

This is one of the loveliest characters in the Kalahari and truly delightful to observe and photograph. Very cute pose, typical of the species.

Was the subject sunning itself or watching out for predators? Maybe both? Meerkats often expose their thinly haired tummies to the sun in the mornings in order to warm up. It is said their burrows are really cool (between 10'C and 25"C) while outside temperatures can reach 40"C or so.

Back to the image, framing works well and the background is great, love the colours. I especially like the POV. Beautiful light and pleasant warm tones. Plenty SS, whew 1/5000s...I gather you were caught unaware, those chaps move from shade to sun and they are really fast:)

Really cool capture and I enjoyed viewing, happy to see some more if you have

Kind regards,

[Dumay de Boulle]

Thanks everyone....

Gabriela...You are spot on. This was around 8am in August in the Kalahari. Im sure you know the mornings are freezing. So they come out and warm up via the darker facing the sun. I suppose it was one of my first shots as they are coming out and I hadn't really thought of settings that much.
Normally I would be f4 and I would definitely have dropped the ISO to around 100-200 for nice clean files...and least 1/5000 guarantees a nice sharp image Thanks for the kind comments.

[Jonathan Ashton]

What a beautiful image I like everything, the angle and point of view the colours and such wonderful details. I also like the exposed root and the OOF grass on the left, a little natural untidiness is good in my view it helps demonstrate the "real" environment.

[William Dickson]

Lovely image Dumay...I really like the pose you captured. Very nice BG and FG. Nice detail on the subject.

Will

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Dumay, I like the overall colour palette and the classic pose of the Meerkat 'huddled' in the cool morning.

Yes, 1/5000 is rather excessive, but I certainly would not have shot wide open because of the limitations in the DoF. Think you can loose about a third to two thirds off the top.

TFS
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

Great angle, colour palette, pose and mood here mate!

[haseeb badar]

Hi Dumay -- Lovely Colours , Pose and details , you have nailed this one perfectly . Loved it .

TFS !