Craig Persel Photography
Portrait of a Squirrel
Posted by Craig Persel (Montreal, Canada) on 5 November 2006 in Animal & Insect and Portfolio.
Montreal, Quebec
Shuva Brata Deb from Hyderabad, India
The reddish and the brown tone of this picture make it a perfect one---probably the tone was so good that you forgot the rule of the thirds. I would have placed him a bit more right.
5 Nov 2006 1:10pm
@Shuva Brata Deb: I saw it more as a "portrait" so wanted it to be centered vs. using 1/3-rds. It can be a bit dangerous creatively to get too locked into those types of "rules" eh. There is also an entire genre of "squared/centered" photography commonly employed by icons like William Eggleston and Lee Friedlander. It can give the image a much more surreal mood and feeling.
Daniel from Austin, United States
This is an incredible shot. I'm curious to know what was done in post-processing, but the focus and depth are both amazing. Brilliant.
5 Nov 2006 1:10pm
@Daniel: Thanks. I used NIK color efex pro 2.0 to deepen the color saturation followed by NIK dfine 1.0 to reduce some of the background noise which also had the effect of decreasing the depth of focus. I also employed some burning-in and sharpening on the squirrel to bring out more detail.
Martine from Québec, Canada
Wow, the contrast between the squirrel and the background is very nice. Super!
5 Nov 2006 2:05pm
Arun from East Windsor, United States
Craig, this is really a gem...Infact, I think the centered composition works very well here in my opinion.You have captured this one at the right moment.
5 Nov 2006 2:16pm
Damon Schreiber from Toronto, Canada
Excellent! Looks like he (she?) posed with studio lighting.
5 Nov 2006 3:40pm
Craiger from Vacaville, United States
This shot is great! I know it took a lot of work and knowledge to pull this off so effectively. Nicely done!
5 Nov 2006 5:10pm
Matt from Portland, United States
Nice recognition of the "hand" rule by your inclusion of the subject's tail. For me, this makes the shot. I wonder: Did you camp a camera on this scene, or was this a bit of serendipity?
5 Nov 2006 5:13pm
@Matt: Shot right out my back sliding doors to the backyard. He was there, I grabbed the camera and voila. :-)
Helen from Melbourne, Australia
Wow. This is an amazing feat. I can picture this one as a feature in a wildlife mag. It is extraordinary you had a steady enough hand to snap this before the squirrel moved. I am sure it didn't sit there long. Even the wood and needles it is sitting on add to the effect.
5 Nov 2006 7:32pm
Chris Sullivan from Melbourne, Australia
great shot. i like the tone and balanced youv'e employed here.
5 Nov 2006 8:17pm
Tim De Boeck from Brussels, Belgium
Beautiful! Good detail and lovely background colors.
5 Nov 2006 9:45pm
Jean-Frédéric from Québec, Canada
Génial, je n'ai pas d'autres mots. Le modèle a pris une belle pause!
5 Nov 2006 10:07pm
Lisa from Portland, United States
Chubby little thing! Great shot though, colour and detail is fantistic!
5 Nov 2006 11:25pm
Duncan Galbraith from kyoto, Japan
stunning. incredible to get that kind of shot in your backyard. some excellent post processing also.
6 Nov 2006 1:11pm
Ryan Yam from Quezon City, Philippines
I love the detail of this shot. All the browns give it that warm tone which suits this cute furry animal.
6 Nov 2006 1:43pm
Jason Kravitz from Brussels, Belgium
It is definitely surreal - I like the separation effect from the background. Looks like she is stuffed and on display.
6 Nov 2006 8:31pm
Nikon D50
1/320 second
F/5.6
300 mm (35mm equiv.)
