I took this from my deck near Boulder, CO this evening. It was the first Kit Fox I have ever seen, much less photographed. He was kind enough to stick around and pose for me.
It is hard to appreciate how small this guy really is until you look at the flowers and weeds next to him. I took this handheld braced against a railing.
1dMKII
500/4
ISO 800
1/15
f/8
Last edited by Bill Bryant; 09-25-2008 at 02:34 PM.
Reason: spelliing
Hi Bill,
Pretty impressive results handheld with that shutter speed. I like the pose and the colors look real good. I also like the splashes of color from the flower and the BG. This looks more like a gray fox than a kit though. Kits are more likely to be found in grassland/deserts while grays more frequently inhabit canyon/foothill type areas. Once found one of these taking a nap about 50ft up in a ponderosa pine. Couldn't get any decent shots because of all the branches but he stayed up there for about 6 hours before I left due to darkness.
Steve
Steve, you may well be right about it being a gray fox. That would make much more sense based upon the location. However, the small size and colors from the guidebook I am using (National Audubond Field Guide to the Rocky Mountain States) seemed to better match the kit fox.
Here is another shot of him from the side. I wish I didn't cut off the edge of his paw... but this is full frame, and if I backed up any more, I would have fallen off the porch!
I was worried about the ISO 800, so I switched to ISO 400 and shot it at f/5, but still only had 1/15th of a second. Thank you IS!
Hi Bill,
Like that second shot too. Better clarity in the eyes. I think I was wrong on the ID. That second shot does look more like a kit than a gray.
Steve