Garden Opossum

Congratulations! This is the Image of the Week selection for the Wildlife Gallery, week ending 23rd March, 2012!I have continued to photograph the wildlife that enters my garden during dark hours, Last night we had deer, fox, Raccoon and opossum, I managed to get some shots of the raccoon and this opossum, The fox and deer went unshot, The animals are now getting regular except the raccoon which is a bonus as there are few on the ground where i live but all are still very shy and 1 or 2 shots are what you are likely to get if you are lucky, This opossum is huge, The biggest i have ever seen, I think it may be heavily pregnant- i hope so as a shot with the young on her back would be great

Nikon D3s with 200-400+1.4x
3 flashguns 2 to the front and 1(with snoot) at the back facing towards the subject to give a rim light

That pose is adorable - the expression priceless! Like you, I would love to see images of mother carrying babies! I hope you get your wish.

I'm really enjoying your garden visitor images!

You are so lucky to see so much wildlife literally on your doorstep. I get the occasional night time visiting frog, very occasionally a night time hedgehog, and most of all - next door's cat..... Much to the annoyance of our two greyhounds!..

Great catch! excellent lights

Super image, nicely done. Best J

Wonderful image, Dave!

Dave Courtenay wrote:
3 flashguns 2 to the front and 1(with snoot) at the back facing towards the subject to give a rim light

Based on this setup, it seems likely that you knew ahead of time that the 'possum would be in this exact spot. How did you know that? Have you been able to effectively use a bait or scent to "direct" the 'possum to the base of the tree?

Excellent lighting. The pose and expression are super. Good work.

jn

Yes Tom

I have been squashing some dog food into the bark of the tree so that the fox, raccoon or opossum would stand or climb the tree, If you look at my blog today you will see the raccoon doing the same

Dave

Tom Reichner wrote:Wonderful image, Dave!

Dave Courtenay wrote:
3 flashguns 2 to the front and 1(with snoot) at the back facing towards the subject to give a rim light

Based on this setup, it seems likely that you knew ahead of time that the 'possum would be in this exact spot. How did you know that? Have you been able to effectively use a bait or scent to "direct" the 'possum to the base of the tree?

Oh this is really cute Dave! I love the pose against the tree and your control on the flash is excellent. The light looks very natural. Little babies would be quite a bonus!

Superb pose, light, detail, colors and ... well, everything!

David,

Very cool image.

Best,

Chas

love the pose here, so cool!

I hope you get the shots you dream about, but I would be happy with this too, great work on the lighting.

Cool view of a little seen animal (except dead on the road!). Great flash work