Raccoon in Persimmon Tree

[Dave Goldberg]

• Canon EOS 7D Mark II
• 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary 015
• ƒ/6.3
• 374mm
• 1/320s
• ISO 6400
• Flash not fired
• Fri, 03 September 2021 7:23 PM
• DxO PureRAW 4

I took this photo in September 2021 at a wildlife park in Northern Virginia. It's a bit of an early autumn tradition where the raccoons climb the trees at sundown and feast on the persimmons, usually cleaning out one tree each night. The spectacle attracts a lot of nature watchers and photographers, but given that everyone is on a boardwalk over swampland, the raccoons don't seem to mind very much.

Shot with a Canon 7D2 and Sigma 150-600mm 1/320", f/6.3, and ISO 6400. Processed on PureRaw4 (trial) for NR and Darktable 4.8.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Dave, not sure I've seen a racoon posted here, so this could be a first.

I do like the habitat, different, and the fact he/she is looking at you, almost stoping in their tracks. Overall it's a bit dark and has a rather blue hue to the overall colour palette. Opening things up and bring a bit more colour into the scene really helps. The branch sticking out of his/her rear is a bit unfortunate and perhaps if time allowed, after getting this shot, moving to you right may have avoided this and had more of the green foliage backdrop?

Processed on PureRaw4 (trial)

I'd personally put the fee of over $100 towards Ps, you get more for your money. Never apply the the default setting its too much, at ISO6400 you could be looking at around 15-18 if that, maybe less, but don't get drawn into applying sharpening, its too aggressive, even when set to soft, but its your call.

TFS
Steve

 

[Dave Goldberg]

• Canon EOS 7D Mark II
• 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary 015
• ƒ/6.3
• 374mm
• 1/320s
• ISO 6400
• Flash not fired
• Fri, 03 September 2021 7:23 PM
• DxO PureRAW 4

Hi Steve, I hope all has been well. I'm surprised there haven't been any raccoon shots here on the forum up until now, given how common and photogenic they can be here in North America, although I understand they're a bit of a nuisance in Europe?

Yes, there was a bit of a blue/magenta color cast in the original. I guess I was a little lazy with white balance and hopefully this one is an improvement.

The branch was a major limb that he had climbed and he was carefully treading along that smaller limb to get to a persimmon. Other angles didn't work out as well. Plus I was on a boardwalk over a swamp without a lot of maneuvering room.

I know exactly what you mean about overdoing denoise and sharpening. In fact, I had to de-sharpen this image after processing through DXO.

Thanks for the suggestions and advice.

Dave G.

 

[Steve Kaluski]

• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 14.0.1 (Macintosh)

Hi Dave, yes all good here thank you, weather has been damp, grey & bleak over here, across the pond, but managed to get an old favourite, which then became another popular subject to photograph, in some late Autumn sun which was unexpected, but a treat. Guess you are gearing up for Thanks Giving?

On reflection I think Dan C may have posted one, but they rarely posted, however I think they look pretty cool in there 'Bandit' B/W colouring, albeit I would not want to get bitten by one. Saw one that had hitched a ride from downtown Vancouver all the way up to Whistler on a dumpster, pretty cool ride!

Yes, there was a bit of a blue/magenta color cast in the original. I guess I was a little lazy with white balance and hopefully this one is an improvement.

Spot on Dave and if you don't nail it, with every colour adjustment you just amplify things. Once you get it corrected it's just a simple task of looking at what else needs either Global or selective adjustments.

The branch was a major limb that he had climbed and he was carefully treading along that smaller limb to get to a persimmon. Other angles didn't work out as well. Plus I was on a boardwalk over a swamp without a lot of maneuvering room.

Thanks for the additional info, worth expanding on as I can only second guess.

I know exactly what you mean about overdoing denoise and sharpening. In fact, I had to de-sharpen this image after processing through DXO.

Working with DT you get it, so many folk just latch onto it, read some garbage on the internet and think its the best think since sliced bread, but not really understanding how much it can impact on the file and then wonder why it looks as it does when posted, its just too aggressive and if your files are good at the point of capture then at the amount of any DN is reduced. Plus as I and I think Kirsh has said, all these super smooth BKG look plastic and unrealistic. Obviously if its at low ISO or low frequency detail then it is what it is.

Dave this was where my thoughts were going FWIW.

Look forward to seeing more a nice to see you back posting.

Steve

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Dave ... so cool to see an image of the Raccoon . does bring something new into the posted wildlife mix
I do like the overall setting and the head on pose ... well almost head on.
Comp does work well .
OP was overall a touch to dark and the blue / cyans needed to be addressed ... fixed with your RP .
Personally I think the RP has lost some nice tonal depth that I would expect when image is taken close to sunset , unless the sun is very intense ... which does not look like in the scene , but I might be well wrong .
The fruits have lost some color ?
That said it is all a matter of taste in the end .
Hope you get along well with DT ... one of the seldom users you are
Wondering why and how you have desharpened the file ... if you think PR 4 is overdoing the sharpening , why not turning it off , instead of messing around with it in DT ???

LOvely shot and TFS Andreas

 

[Dave Goldberg]

Steve - thanks, and your RP is a great improvement over mine. While I can usually resist the urge to go overboard on DN and sharpening, I struggle with color casts. I'm working on it.

Andreas - I took this shot right at sunset with the trees backlit and the racoon illuminated by the fading blue sky. I was lucky to get a few shots without the background blown out through the leaves and of course it wreaked havoc with white balance.

The fruits were just becoming ripe when the raccoons came to harvest them, which is why they weren't fully colored. It's literally treated like an annual event where a group of raccoons move through the swamp to climb the trees and dangle from the limbs to collect persimmons. It attracts quite a crowd of people.

Darktable is a great but unconventional program, as you know. If you're familiar with the Diffuse or Sharpen module (which I understand is based on a heat diffusion model), there is a sharpen slider that strengthens or reduces the overall effect. I felt the DNG coming out of PhotoRaw 4 was too aggressive, so I moved the slider to the left, which brought the image more to my liking.

Cheers,

Dave G.

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Super capture, I'll not repeat the colours etc - all covered..... just returning to the sharpening in DxO4, as Andreas suggested simply turn it off i.e. do not click the option at all (i.e. to select soft medium etc)

 

[Basil Dardagan]

Besides being a great image it is also a fascinating creature

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

Aaaawww Dave, what a cutie of a Raccoon!

Your RP does look better and Steve's version takes it where I think it should be, but overall I love the pose and expression, also the environment with all the leaves and fruit - well seen and captured I guess all aspects covered already so not much to add, just wanted to chip in and say I enjoyed viewing, many thanks and super pleased to see you share another image in the Wildlife Forum, much appreciated!

Kind regards,

Gabriela

 

[Dave Goldberg]

Aaaawww Dave, what a cutie of a Raccoon!

Your RP does look better and Steve's version takes it where I think it should be, but overall I love the pose and expression, also the environment with all the leaves and fruit - well seen and captured I guess all aspects covered already so not much to add, just wanted to chip in and say I enjoyed viewing, many thanks and super pleased to see you share another image in the Wildlife Forum, much appreciated!

Kind regards,

Gabriela

Thank you Gabriela and Basil. The feedback on this forum has helped a lot.

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

Only a pleasure Dave, great having you here and for me this little Raccoon is very special