Baby Vervet Monkey
Mar, 2014Views
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pattack
March 14, 2014
In the same place the National Geographical Channel filmed "Street Monkeys". The Mount Edgecombe estate and where my brother in law lives.
LauraRetyi
March 21, 2014
OMG what an adorable capture, beautifully photographed with great focus and details, he is simply endearing
GBloniarz
May 16, 2014
WOW! What a moment you captured here! So very cute! Congrats!! Should have been "Featured", I think!
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Behind The Lens
Location
This image was taken in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. These wild monkeys, on the Mount Edgecombe Estate were the subject of a National Geographical TV series called 'Street Monkeys'. When the adult Vervet Monkeys go out on a food raid (mainly thieving from residents/the local cafes) they leave the very young monkeys, like this one, in the dubious care of juveniles. I say dubious because sometimes there is some bullying from the adolescent monkeys. This baby was experimenting with eating various leaves and twigs, which explains the pose that suggests supplication!Time
It was early morning - probably around 5am-6am. OH and I always set off early to capture the various wildlife on the estate. It's nice and quiet at that time and the African light is not as harsh as later on.Lighting
The lighting was natural and diffused through the leaves of the trees on this particular image, which explains the flattering lighting. As the area was shaded I used ISO 640 and the shutter speed was 1/200 sec.Equipment
This was taken with my Sony A77 and an old Minolta 300mm prime AF lens which I won't part with! The glass is excellent. I hand held, as I mostly do - Sony SLRs have an excellent in camera AS system and the translucent lens system (no moving mirror) is invaluable for speed and especially the live view of exposure.Inspiration
Well.... who can resist the appeal of Vervet monkeys - especially the baby ones? They are a fascinating subject but one has to keep a sharp eyes out for thieving if you have any edibles and they distract you!Editing
I 'cleaned up', used curves and other such basic PP'ing after processing in 'Bridge' where I 'warmed up' the image, used vivacity/clarity and converted from RAW to TIFF. I also did some dodging and burning and for here, converted to JPG.In my camera bag
I now have the Sony A77 Mark2 which I always carry. I try not to carry a great deal as it can impede opportunity and enjoyment. I will tend to go out with one kind of subject in mind but if I take the Minolta 300mm and I think there may be Macro or Landscape possibilities I will pop my Tamron 90mm f2.8 Macro and Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 in my pockets. I rarely carry lighting equipment but will occasionally use the excellent on board flash for fill light - nicely diffused with an expensive diffusion system - IE a piece of tissue........Feedback
Get to know the area well and the habits of the wildlife. It took me a while to learn where and when to find the different wildlife on the 94 Hectare Estate. Luckily, I had 4 weeks in which to do this as we were staying with relatives. A good idea, wherever you are, is to talk to locals. I found that here, as in my own country of the UK people will often stop to talk when they see your camera and volunteer information about sightings which is a great help. As always - it is important to use field craft. Learn how different species behave and the best way to approach them. Occasionally, as with these particular monkeys, a species may be more suspicious if you try to conceal your presence because they prefer to know where you are! In this case you can get to know what distance the various individuals will tolerate and as with most species the youngsters are more tolerant/innocent. I would say that a 300mm lens is the minimum FL to use on wildlife BUT - the closer you can get the better!
