Slow Walk
A sloth only comes down from it's tree once a week to poop so it was an honor to be in the vicinity when it happened. This little lady slowly let herself d...
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A sloth only comes down from it's tree once a week to poop so it was an honor to be in the vicinity when it happened. This little lady slowly let herself down to the forest floor, turned her back to do her business then scaled the tree back to the top and out of site again.
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Apr, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I captured this photo while traveling through Costa Rica. My husband and I were on a three month adventure in Central America and we had planned to stay two nights in this beautiful village called Cahuita on the Caribbean coast. It turned out we loved it so much we were there two weeks and we visited this wildlife park every day! Seeing a sloth was on my 'bucket list' so when I got so see one up close like this I was over the moon!Time
This was late morning and the jungle was quite bright (for a jungle!) It was also the sloth's weekly excursion to the jungle floor to poop. A sloth only poops once a week and because they are such slow creatures it makes them an easy target for predators. They aren't choosy about when the come down so it is hit and miss as to whether you will be treated to such an event but your chances go up if you visit the same area often.Lighting
I chose to use a high ISO instead of flash to create this image. I feel that flash is offensive to wildlife and feel that the images don't look as natural as if done without so I do my best to avoid it when possible. In this case the sun was pretty high in an overcast sky so there are no distracting specular highlights in the background either. Notice that there are catch lights in the sloth's eyes and that really makes her look lively. If she was facing a different direction this might not have been the case. Just like people portraits without catch lights make the eyes look dead, so do animal portraits.Equipment
I used my Nikon D700, 80-200mm lens at f2.8, ISO 400.Inspiration
I am also a portrait photographer and tend to see animals personified. This sweet sloth looked like she was giving me a shy smile as she made her way to the ground and when she half hid behind the bamboo I knew that the leaves in the foreground of the image would allow the viewer of the image to feel like a spectator like me. It gives the sloth a sense of place.Editing
There was only a small amount of post-processing done with this image. The image was sharp out of the camera and I adjusted the white balance to reduce the amount of green thrown in by the foliage but overall there was very little needed.In my camera bag
When traveling I try to travel as light as possible but this was an extended adventure and so I brought a few extras along 'just in case'. I had two Nikon bodies, an SB800 flash, my 12-24mm, 80-200mm, and a 24-85mm lens. The bag was heavy but I used every item so it was worthwhile to bring it.Feedback
Be patient! You might have to make several visits to a location to experience animal behaviour before you can capture a great image. Learn about their behaviour so you can anticipate. This is a personal bit, when making portraits of animals do try not to startle them with flash! It is a fine line though as a jungle or forest is dark and if your camera can't produce a quality image at high ISO then you should add a touch of flash. Enjoy the process! Don't forget to spend some time just watching, a photograph is lovely but the experience is priceless.
