In the Field

Porcupine Portrait. Weaselhead Natural Area, Calgary, AB, Canada. January 31, 2005.

Perhaps it's my training as a biologist or perhaps it's just plain curiosity, but I find many of the small mammals (and birds) just as interesting - and as challenging to photograph - as the more "sexy" species like bears and wolves! In fact, because they're more "commonplace" it can be even MORE challenging to capture an image of a small mammal that is good enough to make the viewer look twice (which is another yardstick I use to measure the success of an image).

I found this porcupine in a natural area within the city of Calgary. I've had many opportunities to photograph porcupines before, but invariably their face is hidden in a spruce bough or they tuck their head under their forelegs or elsewhere. But this little guy was cooperative!

The biggest photographic challenge in capturing this image was deciding on how much of the porker should be in focus (i.e., choosing an aperture with an appropriate depth of field). I knew I wanted two things in sharp focus: the face (especially the eye) and the claws. Almost all wildlife photographers know that effectively capturing an animal's eye is critical (the term "catch light" is often used to describe the capture of light reflecting in the eye), but I've noticed the darnedest thing over the years - people LOVE to see an animal's claws! Anyway...before taking this shot I used my camera's depth of field preview to ensure that I had adequate depth of field to ensure sharp focus on the eye, nose, whiskers and the claws. The sharply focused quills on the head were an added bonus that came along with the package! But, to draw attention to these details I wanted little else in focus, so I ended up selecting a very large aperture.

Behind the Camera

Porcupine Portrait. Weaselhead Natural Area, Calgary, AB, Canada. January 31, 2005.

Digital Capture; Compressed RAW (NEF) format; ISO 100.

Nikon D2H with with Nikon 200-400 mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR lens @ 330 mm (495 mm equivalent with digital conversion factor) supported on Gitzo 1348 carbon fibre tripod with Wimberley head. VR turned to "On" and in "Normal" mode.

1/20s @ f4; -0.33 stop exposure compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.

At the Computer

Porcupine Portrait. Weaselhead Natural Area, Calgary, AB, Canada. January 31, 2005.

RAW Conversion to 16-bit TIFF, including first-pass sharpening and tone curve adjustment, using Phase One's C1 Pro.

All further digital correction on 16-bit TIFF file using Adobe's Photoshop CS, including additional tone curve adjustment, selective saturation enhancement and selective sharpening for web output.

Conservation

Porcupine Portrait. Weaselhead Natural Area, Calgary, AB, Canada. January 31, 2005.

Species Status in Canada*: This species is not designated as at risk.

The North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) is a slow-moving rodent with poor eyesight and, because their bodies are covered by sharp quills, with few natural predators. Contrary to folklore, porcupines do NOT throw their quills. But they will lash out with their quill-covered tail, often resulting in driving quills into a potential predator's face and body. In North America the porcupine has a very wide distribution, from the conifer forests of eastern Canada through the upper Great Plains and north to Alaska.

While porcupine populations are currently not considered at risk in Canada, their populations do vary dramatically over time. Population cycles appear to peak every 12 to 20 years.

*as determined by COSEWIC: The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada