Meercat on watch

[Ozzie_Traveller]

G'day all

One from a recent visit to a local wildlife park ... this meercat was up on the rocks sweeping the area for danger

exif- Panny FZ-2500; 1/320s x F4,5; ISO-400; lens at 16x zoom / 400mm FFequiv

ps- the wildlife park is the Billabong Wildlife Park, just inland from Port Macquarie. A place with heaps of animals neatly arranged in a tidy space, plenty of foliage for good photo backgrounds, and lots of good locations for a serious photobuff to come home with some goodies

As always, feedback welcome
Phil

[HansE]

You have captured the guard cat. Good one Phil not showing anything obviously man made.They are a popular animal model. and deservedly so. They are very likely to bring a smile to yourface.

[Ozzie_Traveller]

Thx mate ~ yes, to remove any 'man-made' background needed a bit of sideways leg work + little DoF
P

[Isac]

They are a lovable little animal Phil. The TV documentary drama series which follows a meerkat family in the Kalahari Desert, South Africa, called the Whiskers on a large family, brought focus to many on the life of Meerkats about (2005 I think). You've captured it well with good colour and plenty of detail.

[Ozzie_Traveller]

G'day fellas

I have also thought about a crop for a 'portrait' competition ............ maybe titled "self-portrait" as it's better lookin than me ...... wotcha reckon?

Phil

[wigz]

Good capture Phil. The portrait looks good as it excludes the slightly distracting bright green patch in the bg of the full shot.

Not sure about the self-portrait, but have a go anyway.

[Isac]

Some may disagree Phil, but all portraits to me are about the eyes. What are your thougts?

[Ozzie_Traveller]

Hmmmmmm - bit heavy on the vignette maybe?
The b-i-g- mod that I would do if taking this further is to zap the tiny hair of the right eye as we are looking at the image
Phil

[HansE]

I would not go quite as far but the vignetting also helps.

[Isac]

That's OK Hans, can you show us what you would do?

[HansE]

I quite like the dark eyes have only barely lifted them a little the same with the nose. I think the vignetting could be a bit stronger like yours and I should have done that manually instead of using lens filter.

[Isac]

The hair on the eye removed. I still think the eyes are the main feature, so a compromise.