Wild Pine Martens

dragonfly

dragonfly

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Des
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It was a privilege to revisit this subject again after two years. Last time round it was not very successful - pants if truth be told. It's still hard work but at least this time they played ball. I endeavour to continue working with them next year, schedule permitting...

Both taken with D810 and 500mm f4, full-frames.

des_ong_marten01.jpg


des_ong_marten02.jpg
 
Both cracking shots but the second one is just so great,you must be well chuffed
 
Excellent shots Dragonfly of a superb animal.

Are these fairly recent shots? I'm asking as they appear to be in daylight and it is usually only around the shortest day that I see them in the light.

We have a couple visiting the garden every night but any shots I get pale into insignificance compared to these.

Dave

I'd also be interested to know (only roughly) where they were taken.
 
Lovely couple of images

PS

We get them raiding our wheelie bins at Loch Sunart in daylight.
 
Dave, they were taken last week - posted one other on my FB page. They can show both day & night but I usually photograph them at dawn and dusk.
 
dragonfly said:
Dave, they were taken last week - posted one other on my FB page. They can show both day & night but I usually photograph them at dawn and dusk.
Click to expand...

I've not looked at it large but I like the tongue poking shot :)
 
Very fond of the first one especially - not just uncannily sharp on the subject, and complemented by the tiny flowers within the sedge, but the background's hues work so well, green for the main body, fading to blue above.

I've never seen a pine marten in person, and would very much hope to do it justice also.

Was it a matter of staking out a location? 500mm f/4 sounds hefty, from what I know of lens weights - I always tend to rely on the 300mm f/4, simply for that comparative lack of burden, coming in at around 1.5kg, despite having the 120-300mm f/2.8 as well, at about double the weight.

By any measure, beautiful results.

(FWIW, a nice watermark, too. Serves the purpose of identifying the photographer, without getting in the way)
 
Porsupah, thanks for the kind & concise remarks. Having handheld and used the new generation of the Canon 400/f2.8, I'm very jealous of what they've achieved in terms of weight reduction. I don't always shoot with a 500/4, precisely because of weight/size as well as the inflexibility of framing a shot. But, it's very sharp and fast. So in this instance, it's right lens for the job since the subject is shy, and comes out mostly at dusk when the light level is low.
 
Lovely shots, if I had to choose the 2nd is my favourite.

Never seen one in the UK, but we are just back from mainland Greece and sadly I saw many squashed on the roads.
 
This was a location given to me by the son of BBC cameraman, John Keeling.

If you fancy a session, a good friend and colleague of mine runs a series of workshops. I can put you in touch.
 
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