This was a wild otter I spent about an hour and a half with last winter on the bank of a bog creek near the wilderness. First, a bit of the story, then the image.
I'd seen the tracks leading to the hole with none leading away and then the otter poked its head out and went back down.
Now, otters sometimes will stay and sometimes will go, so I thought, what the he!!, and I waded my way through snow and slush to within seven feet of the hole. I could not get any lower than this perspective because of the unbroken brush below me, and I also simply could not get into a better position lighting wise because of the steepness of the bank and more brush.
Just as I got into position my feet broke through the ice and I was standing in slush up to my hips/waist with my feet on the bottom of the creek. I almost hopped out right away but decided to give it a moment and shortly the otter came back and started goofing off just outside the MFD of my lens. I held on for a over an hour before shivering and the chattering of my teeth kept me from getting sharp images, and then headed out. All the while, when the otter would go back down the hole into the water and I would frantically try to trim some brush in front of me so I could get lower, I imagined him down there sniffing my mukluks and insulated bibs. :D
Images aside, to spend that much time in the company of a wild otter from that close distance was phenomenal. It was a gift, a period of time I'll always remember. There were a number of times he/she came too close to me for the lens to focus (MFD 6 feet), and I spoke to it and it listened, and I swear to God there were moments when if I'd have said, "come on boy, let's go walk out together and I'll take you home and introduce you to Lisa," it would have come along.
It is for moments just such as this that I do this thing.
Meanwhile, this is one of the ones I like best from the session. You can see in my avatar my preferred crop, but you all go ahead and be the judge about what crop you like best. I have my own problems with this image. Because of the strong side light, the shadows on part of the otter's body are blocked and no amount of S/H and NR can make it right, which is one reason I cropped it as I have in my avatar. It's sold well as a print, as you'd expect of a tight portrait with lots of personality of a very popular wild animal, but I'm always willing to hear advice on how to make a pretty good thing even better. This image is full frame.
Have at it!
Canon 20D, Canon 100-400 at 400mm, iso200, manual settings, 1/500 at f14, handheld from seven feet
Great story but too cold for me... I lightened it a bit--if you like that part, ask for the details. I cropped it to my taste without looking at your crop. Later and love, artie
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After playing around with it for a bit, it looks like we are all coming up with something pretty dog-gone similar!!! I did my best to do some kind of a vertical crop, but it never felt right...
Sounds like a neat experience! Thanks for sharing!
Otters make such fine subjects.. As you mentioned the strong sidelighting causes the shadows to block uo. Arties work with the image helped.. The crop that Artie and Robert came up with is nice. I looked at a vertical crop and it seemed a bit tight.
Nothing is more fun to watch than otters in snow but they are an exposure nightmare. The strong light makes this situation a tough one, but the snow covered face does have some levity!
OK, YOU do the crop!
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