Critique Fox 'n' frost

Stuart Philpott

Stuart Philpott

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Stu
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With me focused on some redwings this guy coming in from the left clocked me first,yesterday afternoon. Ahh man to get a few unexpected hours and just walk out the door and gifted stuff like this in the bloody sunshine ok almost. So I backtracked got the wind in my favour and went after him. Unfortunately (in some ways others, not so, no frost where the sun shone) we met again in deep shade from a railway embankment I hadn't adjusted my iso from the late full sun...DOH. He appeared just as I was also caught in silhouette between two bushes so all the camo in the world was useless. This is pretty much a grab I had seconds and feel I pulled the shutter leading to lack of sharpness after my desperate attempt to get the exposure right,hey ho another nearly. It's probably 70-80% of full frame cropped left and bottom more for comp than much else. He's a splendid lad in fine fettle. I would have loved to have caught him in the sun as well but hey got something. Saw a tiny bit of behaviour i've not not seen before the spraint and scratch of scent marking just like a domestic dog with me dead in the water ramping shutter for exposure and trying to get at least something.

Played a little in DPP 4 adjusted WB with the eyedropper thingy played with gamma and added a bit of contrast and a bit of unsharp mask for the crack . 3002.8 plus 1.4extiii iso 1000 tv 1/800 f/4 handheld any tips crit help advice conformation of thought all welcome


_70F1009 by Stuart Philpott, on Flickr

belucky all

Stu
 
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Hi Stu!
Cool take buddy I think I would, if I may, suggest to crop the picture
so that the eyes of the fox are at the upper right third…
to eliminate a lot on BG and concentrate the viewer's attention on
the fox, YKWIM?
 
Thank you Lee:)

Daniel, that's interesting!! I'll have a look in a moment. I don't think I have the sharpness my friend to stand a bigger crop and sort of like this fella in his habitat. But my ears are open mate to all thoughts.

Daniel I had something explained to me recently via a video, and finally I think I have started to grasp some of the things you have been quietly mentioning about WB and black and white points,please forgive me being slow mate ,this digital stuff is no easy thing for me personally I struggle with all of it frankly throw in lack of time and everything isponderously slow,

take care

Stu.
 
Daniel had a quick play nowt adjusted but the crop,I looked at him to the right but it looses something if I had the detail I'd have gone here:
_70F1009 by Stuart Philpott, on Flickr

My reasoning is the track leading to him which runs bottom right diagonally to him. Daniel I a little about these guys where they travel what to look for to see a fox run. This might be something I see as obvious and others don't I'm unsure,the track is also used by humans and muntjac, plausibly Roe too, not well trodden enough for brock (badger) I feel maybe i'm wrong. I'm not setting myself as any type of expert at all mate just trying to evaluate what another sees...what I see and how that influences the way I would crop this ,If I was not caught dead in the water he would be traveling that track and that is why I'd pop him on the left it's more than just room to walk into it is where he would walk I could kick myself really mate I should have got the camera set up and should not have been between those bushes when he appeared,I could have read this better,but hindsight is much!!! He would have heard the shutter anyway so there would have only been one or two frames for sure
thoughts mate?

Stu
 
Best time to see the Dog fox at the moment(January) in fact more chance of seeing one in daylight than any other time of the year ....like the edit and I just love the frost in the shot Stu
 
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Yes, now it bangs: this is a fox shot!
Nothing really is missing of its environment and he is taking centre stage!
 
Peteaud said:
I like it. The contrasts make it work for me.
Click to expand...
Pete,thankyou, what dpp did to this image had me reeling mate sure it was exposed a bit to the right ha I think,lmao,but frankly I'm amazed at what happened without much post just playing with gamma and that eyedropper, and a gnats of contrast....it's the same pic I took nowt taken out but charlie became red and stood out I think you have just seen what I did

Solo man said:
For what it's worth, I wouldn't crop it.
Click to expand...
Lee for me ALL opinions are valued!!! My humble thanks are that anyone would comment on an image I've posted,it's your time bro.

Mate the only thing I like about this digital lark is that I can reasonably quickly explore someone else's thoughts or expertise as i've just done to a certain extent. Lee, I paint beasties always have done since very young sadly not so much now in part this is being transferred to a camera,jees I'm slow at that too buddy. I break that down into two types of image studies and pictures ie said beastie located where it lives,the nomenclature is mine not correct just how I refer to 'em. Portraits studies what ever are cool and I love them Roger's bewick swan posted recently a fab example but my leaning is probably going to be more like this. Small birds I have no clue yet how to fit into my simplistic ideas. Certainly my learning here would have been to get a few yards closer and have nailed the shot ,which I don't think I did!! Move the focus point to charlie's eye and have that at full frame,for me that is what I guess I aspire to. All the pixels on show and the abiltiy to do that would be a dream for me.
So yup i'll explore the crop aspect and folks thoughts, cool,but really I don't want to crop at all, but I'm miles away from that goal buddy

thanks mate

Stu
 
Definitely cropped works for me Stu, very nice, the frost really makes the fox stand out (y)
 
I prefer the uncropped version. The light coming through the hedge adds something for me, and the scale of the field shows that he is out on the hunt.
 
Guys,thanks everyone for the replies and all the thoughts on the cropped vs uncropped version it's been very interesting for me to read through your collective thoughts. cheers all! My humble apologies for being slow in replying busy tis all.
We are viewing on the web and it's pretty small, I guess, the fox being small in frame anyway could I ask if this was printed how it might fare, just curious really.honestly I don't think it's sharp anyway I'm sure i pulled the shutter in my haste to grab something

Edward,i'd been told recently by a very talented guy to shoot pretty much wide open for wildlife,I guess I often do anyway because I always seem to want a higher shutter speed,but I can't really take credit for it as a deliberate choice. Another talented guy ran slightly higher f by me as this is a beastie in habitat it would have given me slightly more dof ,which is VERY thought provoking.

I've learnt and pondered alot since posting this image,the only thing I'm sure on is that I wish I would have been close enough to have the either crop as a full frame image(although I'm still unsure which I prefer) and had the sense to up my iso. The last I really feel might have cost me sharpness and is the one thing I really had time to get right!!! I'm kicking myself on that one,one day the penny will drop I was sure if I did catch him then it would be in shade and simply didn't nail this simple thing by setting the camera up in advance,exposure wise. Sure hindsight an all that but I feel two fold implications ,one faster shutter and two I wouldn't have been scrabbling to get exposure right giving me precious extra seconds to compose myself. Look i'm beyond thrilled to have got something,but as one learns maybe someone learning else as well as me will learn from this. Ha hopefully writing this down will also make me think next time,sure I didn't have him in frame for ages so maybe i'd have still needed to adjust slightly,but I could have been much closer with just a little thought.

Ha Den it's that time isn't it chasing ladies:D. I do catch up with them through the year,but damn they look fine at this time of year he was glowing when we first met in the sun very red too so often much more grey is showing

Thanks all for your time and thoughts:cool:

Stu
 
Edit for me, though it could be less of a crop ... original has too much extraneous environment :)
 
Cheers Roger. Hmm E E,Oh I'm SO stealing that:banana::D now who said crit can't be fun;)?

Thanks as always buddy:)

best

Stu
 
Just a thought.......but would a portrait style crop work? You could keep the track (lead in), and some of the light behind the trees, but with less habitat at the edges? Like I say...just a thought.
 
The second shot, the cropped one is simply stunning! I like both but you really have captured a superb representation of the Fox in the crop. Brilliant, I'm in awe of you!
 
Northhantsgeeze R :D Please forgive me not exploring the crop you offered tis nowt but lack of time buddy,not ignoring just stupid long hours and an incredibly busy Stu(not good) but I will get round to trying to do this.

I actually logged in to be inspired by you 'orrible lot and was completely shocked to see notifications that folk have given their time to replying more to this posted a few weeks back cheers Ian and Chris,thanks guys !!

Chris i'm just learning bro,the field craft mistake is sort of minor to me reading the situation,that Charlie wasn't that bothered by me, next the wind, next the plan got me something.... huh:) But the photographer was lacking I was gifted just a tad more than I got, I know it mate. I should have implemented, it would have got me more here,which one day i'll play with in photoshop. can't wait to learn about layeers still don't wan't to change that much,so don't be in awe mate tis lovely of ya though.

Chris I have grafted my butt of for years,I, this was probably my worst day ever at work so came home early. This wonderful day was still alive and I got this as a result of that pure chance , I'd take the kicking again to be with the fella again tomorrow.

Ta muchly Chris, for the kindness , I do like this un ,it's I just got lucky:D these tools are amazing though mate !!
take care

Stu
 
Very cute I like that..original here too, I rather like it as a more natural setting/backdrop and combined with the gorgeous tones from the light..Looks lovely
 
Cheers T, thanks muchly ,so interesting hearing everyone's thoughts,thanks for your time mate

Stu
 
Like the cropped one better, but as said a slightly less crop might have worked better.

But great shot in the first place, how did he come so close.

Great shot, love it...

Mj
 
Hiya Mark,well I guess the answer is he didn't I got fairly close to him,field craft I suppose is the answer Mark,ha i'm a sneakey B*****d,lmao.

Mate being serious he was very distracted I feel by looking for ladies and marking out his patch. I am always in camo face hands covered(as already said useless in silouhette) but if he hadn't of caught me out when I had to break cover, I feel I would have got closer, made a detour to what gave me the best chance wind direction wise and got lucky simple as. Mark I've a skill set fieldcraft wise, I suppose,not in any kind of arrogant way just I seem to have a knack of getting in fairly close to wild animals. Simply put I've been learning that since I was a child,cause I wanted to see the badgers or the fox cubs etc so had to learn how not to scare them away or where to wait. But Mark I'm a numpty with the camera by comparison, this is probably one of my best pics so far I dunno mate how one qualifies all this. I'd love a way to have no shutter sound because my 1Div is scaring the beasties that hear well,deer foxes etc once I finally get where I want ha and don't blow it of course. But the minute I press the shutter repeatedly things change because beastie knows something is up. Mind I am under no illusion how poor my togging skills are Mark many of the guys here would have shown something stella from this chance but hey we all gotta learn.
In many ways this behind the scenes stuff is why I want to do this so much,I paint wildlife have a deep love of it since being a kid it and want to try to get all that malarky into pictures with a camera ,but I drive myself nuts by going into stealth mode and forgetting the photographic basics at the moment. Ahh mate if was easy there would be no challenge but it's nice getting the odd glimmer of hope every now and again huh,:) I adore doing this.

I so wish I could really apply myself please let it be bright and not raining all day tomorrow thanks for the kinds words Mark one day they'll make a tog of me:D

take care

stu
 
Cheers Luis many thanks,it's quite amazing to me how even the split seems to be some folks liking the crop some the larger version,it cool we don't all go the same way bit of an eyeopener ""

take care

Stu
 
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