Possum in woods
Went eagle hunting today. didn't find any, but did find some possums in a pile of logs.
Nikon D40x, F4, Iso 360, 70mm, 1/125. Shot in raw. cropped. a little spot color intensity using the brush tool. Removed a couple of branches in front of the face. Shot in the late afternoon.
Are these opossums or possums? Funny little creatures. Looks a little soft on my monitor but nice to see something different and I like being able to see the front paw with claws.
Hi Hazel, agree with Hilary here on her observations. However, I do like the composition, as it conveys exactly what the Possum is doing, especially with the draped tail and glimpse of the front paw. I just feel the lack clarity and sharpness is mainly down to the shutter speed, ideally you need to up your ISO to get a higher speed.
Hope to see more soon and great to see a different animal posted.
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
The correct spelling is opossum. They have prehensile tails & rear feet with opposable thumbs. I think it is the only North American marsupial.
Andrew
Hazel - I like the comp and habitat. Agree with the others about sharpness. Some good advice above.
TFS,
Rachel
Nice composition Hazel. Agree with sharpness issue, some good advice given above.
TFS
Todd
Originally Posted by Andrew Merwin
Thanks Andrew
Thanks for the input. I'm still trying to get a grasp of those sharpness (iso/shutter speed/ etc. working together) issues. Sorry about the misspelling. Consider me now more educated.
"I just feel the lack clarity and sharpness is mainly down to the shutter speed, ideally you need to up your ISO to get a higher speed."
Steve, thanks for the ISO comment. I really am trying to understand the ratios, etc. My question at this point is: I read articles that suggest upping the ISO to adjust to a higher speed and thus get more sharpness in moving objects (like this opossum) . Then, in another article or book, I read that upping the ISO leads to more noise, and so the clarity might be sacrificed. Seems like a fierce circle to me. Do you (or anyone else reading this) know of something I can read/study to get a grip on this? sorry if this sounds too elementary for some of you....but then, you were once "learners" too, I guess. Thanks for your help.
Hi Hazel, it is true that with certain earlier cameras increasing the ISO would give you more 'noise' or grain in the image and therefore the quality would suffer to a degree. Recently the newer cameras can go incredible hi to achieve a very good image and no real loss in quality, especially Nikon, although Steve Canuel posted a shot recently at ISO6400 which is fantastic. Not knowing Nikon that well as I use Canon, I can't really say how the D40x handles, launched 2007? Therefore, would suggest you post this question in Photo gear where I am sure there are people more equipped to answer you question.
Never fear of asking questions, we have all been there and we are all still learning. Let me know how you get on.
Look forward to seeing more posts
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
Hazel, There are many compromises that we deal with re: iso and noise and everyone has a different level of acceptable noise levels. Proper exposure goes a long way to limiting noise (histogram to the right, without blowing the whites). As Chas has so eloquently put it many times, a noisy image beats a blurry image any day (unless intentional blur). Test your camera at different iso levels with proper exposures and see what you are comfortable with as far as noise is concerned.
Todd
Hazel, I've been dealing with that ISO/SS dilemma over the past few weeks in Kenya when I had some really dull weather with some of my best sightings at sunset or just after. It is really difficult and I have blown in on quite a few images which I'm still working on to get something useful from. We are all learning every time a new situation comes along.
(BTW, living in Australia I was just interested in your opossum/possum and was wondering if they are related in some way to our possums. Both being marsupials, I guess they may be somewhere along the line.)
Hilary - my understanding is other than both being marsupials, they are not closely related. The names are similar because Captain Cook's expedition thought the Australian animal looked like the Western Hemisphere opossum and named it. Some sources say the names were originally the same and then the "o" was dropped from the animal found in Australia, New Guinea and other islands to avoid confusion between the two species. The most obvious physical difference is the bare tail on the North American opossum vs. the bushy tail on the Australian possum.
Rachel
Neat to see one of these guys posted here. I like how you got him coming down and in between the "ladder" of logs. You got a nice clean shot of the face too. As others have stated, it's easier to deal with noise in an image than a blurry subject. Hope you don't mind but I played with your image a bit (haven't ever gotten an image of a possum of my own!). A little selective sharpening and contrast work as well as some color tweaks seems to make your JPG version a little sharper (at least to my eye) which tells me you may be able to get a little more out of your RAW capture. Thoughts? Will remove if you like.
Yes I see the difference! Do not remove. I've been doing some reading about selective sharpening and will work on that. Thanks for helping me see what I can shoot for.
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