Ruffed Grouse Portraiture

I found a covey of Grouse down in the Grand Teton park a week and a half ago. They were extremely cooperative, and allowed us to follow them around for about two hours.

In this thread I'm posting a couple of the close-up portrait style images. When the subject's surroundings are difficult or distracting, sometimes you can salvage an opportunity by going in real close so that all your image captures is a portion of the subject. Plus, at times I couldn't help but to get closeups - the grouse were continually moving toward me and would get so close I could barely find them in the viewfinder.

It was a fun time. It's rare that I get to observe gamebirds like Ruffed Grouse for such a long period of time.

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Looked at the first pic and thought, that's a really nice pic. Then I got to the 2nd, wow, very nice capture. Love it.

Great work Tom.

With such a thin DOF I would imagine there wouldn't be much between nailing the focus on the eyes and not ?!!

Matt.

Gorgeous shots, Tom. Absolutely gorgeous.

Fantastic images, Tom. That second shot is a beauty

Awesome shots.

Great shots Tom. Looks like he may be scolding you in that second shot. I think he is saying." You got lucky with that Griz, but if you get any closer, I may have to maul you." he he

That first shot is fantastic, the second one gave me a good laugh, love the conehead look! Excellent shots Tom.

Great shots..loving #1.

Hi Tom--followed over from your post on the birds link. These are exquisite shots--please post more if you have them--thanks.