What does the fox say? [Pics added]

This year I had an encounter with three young foxes and as they were visiting regularly I had the pleasure to watch them grow. At the first sighting - it was already dark and they seemed to have left the fox's burrow for the first time - they were very playful. As the days and weeks passed they grew bigger (at an incredible pace!) and became more confident. During the night I could hear them scuffle (this is really noisy!) and by the evenings they were sometimes strolling around in the garden while I was outside.

#1 One of the first pics


#2


#3

Notice the short nose in comparison to later pictures

#4


#5

They felt really comfortable despite my presence. I was clearly no danger for them, more like 'family'

#6


#7


#8

Unfortunately they love to dig holes in the lawn

#9


#10

Even foxes love Sony gear (and Minolta, of course)! At first sight the fox couldn't resist to make a subtle bite in on of the tripod's legs.

#11


#12



For me it is really hard to pick favourites but #1, #7 and #9 are really lovely in my opinion.

Shots have been taken with Sony A900 and SAL-135f18Z mostly, but also SAL-2470Z and Minolta 300/2.8 APO HS G. Just a few with the A7 and 70-200/4 or LA-EA3 and the aforementioned lenses. Autofocus is really poor in low light with the first gen A7, even the A900 performed better. Lighting conditions were challenging a lot but nevertheless I took several hundred pictures. Denoising was a lot of work in Darktable.

Thanks for watching, comments and critique as always much appreciated!


Edited by Mark Twain - 29 August 2018 at 09:21

What an outstanding set! He's not the only one who's checking out your gear enviously.
I'd say 10 and 11 are my favs.

TFS
Sashi

they are all lovely!!! I love the mood + DOF in #4! and the encounter -#s 10,11,12- is priceless!
TFS! wouldn't mind a dose of your fox pics on a daily base!

Nice series, I particularly like 7 and 9 : )

"Denoising was a lot of work in darktable", haha, I can believe it. There's quite a lof of options. I tired of working with the profiled module and tend to selectively if needed just use the non-local one, full chroma and a little luma, maybe you have a better way. Not that this is a thread about dt :)

An opportunity you definitely got the most of, a wonderful series.

Lovely and unique series!

I wonder whether you used eye-Af to shoot them!

TFS!

Hi Mark,

As others have quite rightly said, what an absolutely delightful series this is and you have been so fortunate to have them 'adopt' you like this! There is something positive to take from all the shots - even the ones where you have struggled with the light quality etc. - and it must be wonderful for you to have such a lovely documentary series such as this now.

It's difficult to pick any one (or two, or three...) from the set but, if pushed, for me it would absolutely be #7 for that wonderful dreamy-like quality it has; #4 for the pin-sharp eye contact you've got; #5 for a very relaxed feel; #'s 6 and 9 for such a directness of look and, finally, but by no means least, #11 which I would be tempted to post to a wider audience (Sony especially) as it has a great 'Nature meets man' connection.

Have they finally left the den yet or do you think there will be more opportunities to come?

Thanks for sharing a wonderful series and best regards, Neil.