Daylight Porcupine

[Ken Watkins]

Here is something you do not see very often, taken from slightly moving vehicle ( a hard chase), Kalahari Central Game Reserve, Botswana,7th March 2009

EOS iD MkIIn

28-300mm IS at 170mm

F6.3, 1/3200, ISO800

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Ken,
Good find. The eye is a bit soft due to movement, as is expected. I wish you could photograph one approaching your vehicle. May be some of those obscene ISOs (ISO 3200) that you get in the new cameras would have helped in sharpness and a narrower aperture. :-)

I have mostly seen porcupines in semi or complete darkness. So haven't got a chance to photograph. So it is not everyday that one sees such a scene. Dream of seeing a porcupine near a tiger. :-)

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Stu Bowie]

Great sighting Ken, and like the comp in this. Looks like you were pretty close. Quite a large fellow too.

[Rich Ikerd]

Definitely not your everyday image Ken. Glad that you were able to get around in front and get this taken. The slight softness isn't too distracting given the subject.

[Marc Mol]

Great daylight capture & comp, Ken! Why such high ISO & speed, because of vehicle movement? Is this your 2nd body backup combo?
All of my Porcupine images are of night time, running with back to camera!

Cheers
Marc

[Ken Watkins]

Hi Marc,
High ISO and speed in an attempt to "freeze" movement, not quite sucessfull. The MkII is not really a back up I uses it with my zoom for larger game, in this instance the Porcupine was fairly close There was no way I could have hand-held the 500mm on a moving vehicle and as luck would have it I did not need to.

[Steve Canuel]

I like the angle of the path and how it flows through the frame. Surrounding grasses are nice and the "windblown" look of your subject goes well with the lines of the grass and the path.