Getting the Shot – Red Fox
Always be ready for “The Shot” is what I preach and teach to my students. I try to do as much nature and wildlife photography as possible using a tripod. However, when driving backwoods roads my handheld set-up is always at the ready. I try to estimate the closest settings for seeing wildlife along side the road. I angle the camera where I can easily find the grip with my right hand. I roll all the windows down when possible. I always keep track of the sun and the direction I am traveling for the quickest calculation of available light.
On this day I was driving down the road and saw a Red Fox on the right side of the road moving slowly away from me. I knew if I tried to stop too quickly it would put the fox on high alert. I also knew that if I passed the fox and shot back behind the truck I would gain even better lighting. Knowing the length of my lens paired with a crop sensor camera would give me the best results from about 30-50 yards, I stopped when at about the 50 yards mark. While slowing down, I had already gripped the camera and in an instant was slowly out the door closing it quietly behind me. The fox slowed and came to a stop about 40 yards from me. I carefully squeezed off a few shots and the fox looked across the road from where it was standing. This allowed me a few more shots with different head angles. It turned and started moving slightly away from me and across the road.
I went into action walking fast, to almost a jog, careful not to make any noise. I was traveling about twice the speed of the fox and making up ground. As I looked ahead of the fox, I realized it was about 20 yards from a river running along side the road. I made up some more ground and when the fox was about 10 feet from the bank leading down to the river, I calculated it would turn to see if I had been following it. I hit my knee to help steady myself with my left elbow on my raised right knee. This is always a good idea when trying to shoot with your heart racing after a good little jog. I had just enough time to lock on focus before the fox spun around to look back. I took this shot before it turned its head and looked straight ahead. I fired off another shot and the fox was gone. It scampered down the bank and maneuvered through some trees, never to be seen again.
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