Fox (C&C) (56k warning)

Muineach

I know I'm probably boring a good few people with these fox photo's but what the hell :P

Number 1 was taken using a 300mm zoom at full length from about 6-7 foot, with me more or less lying flat on my stomach, afterwards maybe not such a good idea. He's not vicious, honestly well I still have all my bit's and pieces.
The little bit of grass in his mouth is killing me, cloning "won't" work for it, I'm faced with going pixel by pixel grr.

The rest are up on a flickr set if your interested, btw "Original" size is about 8mp, be warned.


1) Tasty, what's next ?




2) Look into my eye's, your falling into a deep sleep




3) There's nothing like the smell of freshly cut grass




I think number 4 could do with a tighter crop
4) I think this is my "best" side ?





5) At least someone liked the rain




6 isn't really for a C&C I just thought it was interesting. I was surprised to see the fox climb onto the wall, well jumped, later that night he was on top of the roof of the shed in the background, so that's 2x4 foot jumps, imagine walking out to a shed to see a fox looking down at you. I have a photo but the flash was in the shed and by the time I got it, it was too late.

6) Wall's of mere mortal men are no defence

Sebzy

great shots all of them where were they taken or is that a pet fox

Kali

Fantastic shots.. must be a regular visitor to your garden yeah?

shepthedog

These are absolutely amazing.. as sebzy says he looks like a pet you got such good pics of him.. Well done.. They are incredibly clear.

rymus

wonderful shots.. Can't help but remind me of the ad on TV currently.. Denny is it? Damn tv has ruined my brain. Well done

Muineach

I found out the neighbours had been feeding him now and again, so he was used to humans, but I have seen them in the fields around us, just glimpses now and again. We're lucky enough that nobody within 1/2 a mile has any cats or dogs or children (<12), so generally if an adult see's a fox, they go ah cute :P

He (I has some rude pics of him) has a surprising trick off appearing out of nowhere, if I go down the lawn, there's no sign of him, but if I look out over the fields for a minute or two and turn around, there he is sitting about 10 foot away, sitting like a dog, he doesn't like me seeing where he's come from.

I've seen 3 foxes out at night, but this is the only one that will come out to me, the rest seem to be frightened of people. he comes within 7-10 feet from me at times, so with a Canon IS 70-300mm you can get really close, the only problem is the DOF and lighting.

He normally comes around every 2nd day or so, I just head out with the camera and see if he's around, about 8:30 am and pm seem to be his favourite times, i.e. going to sleep and waking up time.
So depending on the lighting I can get some photo's.

Muineach

rymus wrote:

wonderful shots.. Can't help but remind me of the ad on TV currently.. Denny is it? Damn tv has ruined my brain. Well done

I know, it was on the tv this morning when he appeared , perfect timing

Valentia

Brilliant shots!! Great detail and charachter. Fair play.

Muineach

as for the sharpness, what i did was set the camera to default in contrast/sharpness (slider in the middle), in RAW sharpening set to 0.
Then I applied 2-3 high pass filters(i.e. one at 3 px, one at 10px and another at 16px), with masks and varying the opacity in the masks (brush 20%) and the "filters" etc. you can get great results, and huge files. It's a bit more time consuming but I like the results.

Morlar

Those are brill - I really like the first 2 in particular.

6th

No. 3 is very noble.

Valentia

Muineach wrote:

as for the sharpness, what i did was set the camera to default in contrast/sharpness (slider in the middle), in RAW sharpening set to 0.
Then I applied 2-3 high pass filters(i.e. one at 3 px, one at 10px and another at 16px), with masks and varying the opacity in the masks (brush 20%) and the "filters" etc. you can get great results, and huge files. It's a bit more time consuming but I like the results.

I must learn how to do that. Any links that explain it? Thanks.

ThOnda

Wonderful shots.

Borderfox

Lovely shots and great technique to sharpen

Muineach

Valentia wrote:

I must learn how to do that. Any links that explain it? Thanks.

I only found how to do it with 1 pass, the way I do it is a bit more complicated, I'll do up a thread with a bit of a tutorial, it's not difficult to do but it really needs to be done in front of you, if you know what I mean, lots of pics will make it easier to explain, i'll pop it up later, just have to go and make a gazebo now :rolleyes:

Valentia

Muineach wrote:

I only found how to do it with 1 pass, the way I do it is a bit more complicated, I'll do up a thread with a bit of a tutorial, it's not difficult to do but it really needs to be done in front of you, if you know what I mean, lots of pics will make it easier to explain, i'll pop it up later, just have to go and make a gazebo now :rolleyes:

LOL. Thanks.

JackKelly

wow, they are class. 1st and 2nd are my favourites. I really need to get a zoom lens!

Fenster

Love #3, this is definately the kind of work we need to see more of around here. You might clone out the two little reflections from his whiskers that are above his head, they're a mite distracting and the photo would look perfect without them.

Muineach

Valentia wrote:

LOL. Thanks.

Well here's a first draft of a "tutorial" on High Pass Sharpening, I not sure how to do it properly so I'm probably well off, but I know it works.


Tutorial


If people find it useful I'll tidy it up, just let me know

There's a Photoshop file to go with it, but it's still uploading should be uploaded by 9pm (20 Aug).

http://www.muineach.com/site/IMG_1695_50_percent.psd

Valentia

Thanks a mil for going to all the trouble. Maybe it would be worth putting in the Digital Darkroon sub forum? It wont get lost there.

I'll give it a lash later.