One of the highlights of my many photo tours to China was photographing wild snub-nosed monkeys. I have long been intrigued by blue animals. Most of the species that are predominantly blue, or that have striking blue features, are low on the wildlife hierarchy -- insects, reptiles, amphibians, clams, and fish. It is exceedingly rare to see bright blue coloration on mammals. These monkeys inhabit the mountains of southwest China, and in one of the national parks the rangers put out food twice a day for them. The monkeys come down from the mountains to eat, and that's how you can get within telephoto range of them. These two youngsters were in constant motion, playing as children would play, and it was very difficult to keep them in sharp focus. I used AI servo (i.e. focus tracking) and a center cluster of 9 focus points, but still, my Canon 100-400mm zoom could hardly keep up with their lightning-fast antics. With perseverance, though, and enough time spent, I was able to get quite a few wonderful portraits as well as action shots. My settings were 1/500, f/7.1, and 1600 ISO.
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