Squirrel Posing
Dec, 2015Views
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Zenith Award
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Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken at Flat Rock Park in Columbus, GA.Time
Taken on 12/06/2015 ay 4:49 pmLighting
He was in a shaded area in a tree and about 20 feet up.Equipment
I was using a Canon 5DS R, aperture f/5.6, 1/640 sec, iso2500 at 400mm Canon 400mm f/5.6 prime lensInspiration
Nature in general inspires me. I have always loved the outdoors and always will. My dad once told me (boy if you don't stay out of the woods you're going to grow hair and turn into an animal) I just shrugged my shoulders and never stopped going to the woods, I even chose surveying as a career so I could be in the woods. Sharing my nature photos so others can see what I see is what I enjoy, I don't try to sale them I just hope someone enjoy's looking at them as much as I enjoy taking them. That's all that matters to me. Not everyone get to see nature the way I get to see it.Editing
I always use manual mode and shoot RAW so I am in control of what I want the photo to look like. I always use Canon's Digital Photo Professional that came with the camera to process my RAW images. If needed I will use Photoshop Elements to tone down the highlights and brighten the shadows, but only if needed.In my camera bag
I now use a Canon 5D Mk IV full frame or 90D crop sensor camera. I usually only carry three lens when doing nature, a Canon 400mm DO for birds, animals (furry or scalely), flowers and insects, even landscape sometimes, but I usually use Canon's 16-35 f/4 or Canon's 24-70mm f/4 for landscape, buildings and people. The only time I will use a tripod is for night shots or fireworks, animals and birds are rarely in the right place for a tripod and I can't see any difference in image quality when I did use one, not even for moon shots or landscape.Feedback
Local parks are great for squirrels and many birds but I mostly go to wildlife management areas or national forests where there are wetland areas. Water is life and that's where wildlife and floral is in abundance. I was injured in a motorcycle accident a few years back so I now take about 80% of my photos out the window of my jeep. I have found that wildlife is less likely to get spooked while in the jeep and you can hold the camera steadier with your arm's on the window. I still get out a lot because it's impossible to get everything from the jeep, but critters get spooked much easier when they can see you. Learn to use back button focus, center point focus, manual mode and RAW on your camera, Processing with RAW gives you a lot more information to work with and it just works. Some will argue with that but I have gone back with auto, jpeg and used multiple focus points and all this does is let the camera decide what it thinks is best and it just don't work as well period. I am self taught and never took any classes, If I can do it so can you, it just takes time and practice, practice and more practice. Now just go have fun and take some pictures.
