Adult Uinta Ground Squirrel munching on spring grasses – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Two days ago while up in a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains I was able to finally realize a personal goal while photographing Uinta Ground Squirrels. What I have wanted to achieve for quite some time is to photograph the ground squirrels near the edge of the road where it drops off sharply so that I could have the distant canyon walls in the background instead of a field of grass, piles of dirt or the beautiful but messy looking sagebrush that dots the slopes of the canyons.
Adult Uinta Ground Squirrel nibbling on grasses – Nikon D500, f9, 1/800, ISO 400, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
What I wanted was a smooth, almost silky background behind the Uinta Ground Squirrels and one way to achieve that is to have the features of the canyon walls so far away that everything about them becomes a blur in the final image. With these first two Uinta Ground Squirrel images there is a visible gradient of green towards the top and a brownish color near the bottom of the background, the green was from a grassy slope across the canyon and the brown coloration was from willows lining the creek below that haven’t yet leafed out. The ground squirrel was feeding on grasses at the edge shoulder of the road where there is a 10 to 15 foot drop off while I was parked on the opposite side of the gravel road.
Alert adult Uinta Ground Squirrel in a Wasatch Mountain Canyon – Nikon D500, f9, 1/1250, ISO 400, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
I noticed another Uinta Ground Squirrel a little bit up the road and realized that if I could approach it slowly enough so as to not disturb it that I would have a solid green background behind the ground squirrel. I turned my Jeep on and rolled forward slowly until I could see that the background behind the squirrel would be solid green, turned off the engine and locked focus on the squirrel’s eye. I am happy to say that I achieved my goal with all of these Uinta Ground Squirrel photos by maneuvering my Jeep, aka my mobile blind, to exactly where I wanted and needed to be.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Uinta Ground Squirrel photos plus facts and information about this species.
Wow. Perfect compositions with brilliant detail. Not only are your pics a joy to look at but they are, as these shots attest, a wonderful resource. Thanks Mia.
Absolutely love these shots! The green background is perfect! 🙂
Win for you, win for us.
You certainly accomplished your goal. Beautiful photos. I love the squirrel with its mouth full of grass.