Trapeze Artists

[Murugan Anantharaman]

The malabar squirrel is quite an acrobat, I am always amazed at their skills and its a joy to watch them in their act. There was a pair here and while one was busy eating in a squirrel's version of shirsasana the other was jumping from one branch to the other. The timing of the shot makes it look like a trapeze act in a circus, something that we would all have seen as youngsters. Wish I had increased the depth of field to cover the flying squirrel in the background, however I didn't even realize the second's going to jump as my focus was on the inverted acrobat. The picture was made in Kabini in 2012, from my archives.

Nikon D7k, f/8, SS 1/2000,ISO 635, ec -.3, 420mm (300f4+1.4xTC), cropped a bit.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Very interesting pose. Their agility in the tree tops is a sight to see. Opening up the shadows a bit would be great. When we are pointing the camera at the sky and the subject is a bit small in the frame, the metering sensor reads more bright sky and hence tries reduce the exposure. So a +ive exposure compensation would always help. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Mrudul Godbole]

An apt title for the photograph. One is in the inverted position and the other one is also jumping into the frame (coincidently) just like trapeze artists :). Its usually difficult to photograph them, as they are high up in the tree tops and also against the light :(. Thanks for sharing.

[Prashant Gandhi]

Very amazing click. Thanks for sharing with us Murugan Anantharaman!