free ranging pics Jack, Shiva, Bubbles, Sunshine and Doodles

first one out is always Jack, he gets lots of free ranging time as unfortunately he never got on with Sunshine and Doodles as being too territorial, but he's still our fluffy cuddly big boy..






Of course his rounds require a good inspection of the castle, those pesky young ones better not pee on my castle!








And after a good inspection of his realm, he returns to his favourite past time and get some scritches while he relaxes




Next up are the girls, that is, if we can find them, they like to make big clouds out of tissues and Bubbles like to play sniper, being well camouflaged. Can you spot the ratty?




The girls love the little boys and always go to say hello. Here's Bubbles, saying "Hi" to Sunshine and Doodles




Here's Shiva, posing like a pro for the occasion






And the 2 girls, with Bubbles in the foreground




Watching those silly girls is very thirsty work, so before the little boys go out, they share a drink




Then its roaming time for the little ones, who remain happily on the couch, they are very social and make sure we will notice them for being cute











Of course, they like to joke around, here's Doodles "got your nose"






But surely, young rats need their entertainment while their parents need some quiet time too. Nothing does the trick better then an Xbox
I suspect Doodles is beating up a cat on Call of Duty ( https://youtu.be/AnfNAVbCryc )

Brilliant pictures.... Thanks a million :-)

Jack is just super! He's such a cuddly pudding

Bubbles looks almost identical to my Nathaniel (she's a she but with a boys name, heh long story!), though Nathaniel is a little tubbier

Fantastc shots Francois! They look great <3

xx

Zoundz wrote:Fantastc shots Francois! They look great <3

xx

Thanks Zoundz, you set the standards for ratty pictures very high yourself

I solved the little conundrum that I encountered with keeping good lighting and having sharp pics at the same time. The usual build in flash tends to turn pics rather "flat" or over exposed. Then without flash, I would usually switch to a higher ISO, but left with rather grainy pics

Using a mounted digital flash with swivel sorted it out by aiming the flash to the ceiling to get a good light dispersal. With Jack's photo's I experimented with a 55-200mm zoom lens as they seem to get more depth in the pic.

I always found photographic animals quite challenging, especially ratties (will they ever sit still and pose! )

I usually end up with 50% of usable pics out of a session, so thank god for digital SLR's.

I'm using a Canon EOS 300D with hacked firmware (to unlock some D20 features) what do you use?

Cheers

Francois

Sounds very similar to what I do - with the flashgun I'm currently (to my annoyance) shooting with a Nikon D80 and a variety of lenses. My Nikon D300s is in shop being repaired (will get it back end of January) - but on Wednesday I'm getting my grubby little paws on a Nikon D700! Very excited about that, can't wait to see how it performs on the rats with a 50mm wide lens

xx