Gray Fox Male + Repost

I expect every image of the gray foxes I capture to be the last of the year. In the fall (usually September), the family will beak up and go their separate ways - even the adult male and female. I will sometimes see the male periodically throughout the winter, but never the female or that years’ brood of kits. Starting in January or February, I will begin to see a male and female begin to pair up again, and a new family is begun, usually in February in Oklahoma. This has been the pattern for the almost 20 years I have observed them. BTW, did you know gray foxes are the only member of the canid family that can climb trees? I have included a short trail cam video, below. They sometimes even make their dens in trees.

Specific Feedback Requested

Any

Technical Details

Canon 60D, Canon 70-300mm IS USM Zoom, f/8, 1/125 sec., ISO 1000 @ 160mm. Processed in ACR and PSE 2020 for exposure and cropping. Topaz DeNoise.


I love it! Thanks for all the info on them, too. I seem to remember they are the only canid that has retractable claws as well, like a cat’s.

Anyway…I think you could brighten him up a bit. The bg and the famous rock seem dark enough that if you selected and bumped the exposure for the fox it would look pretty nice. Nothing too drastic, but a boost. Also a scroll crop to get the dark hole at the bottom out of the frame works, too. Lately those are my bugbears in processing.

My pleasure @_Kris . You are correct about the retractable claws.

I touched it up a bit per your suggestions.

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Terry, you caught a great pose with the open mouth and the details in it’s fur look great. He’s a handsome dude. With it staring at you, having it centered works well and adds visual weight to the fox. I’d suggest trying a crop to an 8.5 x 11 frame cropping entirely off the left and see what you think.

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I do often use that crop, @Mark_Seaver. I’ll give it a go, here. Thanks

I love the pose and the setting, you may selectively darken the rock .
I’m seeing some blues in the fox.

Really great subject and also a very cute one. I agree with hte comments above that the rock could be toned down a bit and aso there is a blue cast in the image (as is often the case for images in teh shade) so I would desturate the blues +/or increase the white balance a bit.

Thanks @JRajput and @DvirBarkay. Good observation concerning the blues. I adjusted i a bit and it looks much better. Funny how one sometimes looks and looks at a photo, and yet doesn’t see. As for the rock, my love/hate relationship continues. The wildlife is attracted to it and it makes a great stage, but it offers many challenges in processing.