I photographed these pacas on the grounds of my lodge in Costa Rica. I asked my local guide to hold a flash off-camera to create texture from the sidelighting. On-camera flash is, in my opinion, the most unattractive type of artificial light photographers use. My settings were 1/160, f/16, and 320 ISO. I was using a small aperture in an effort to hold focus on all three animals, but it wasn't enough. The more distant animal was soft, so I applied Topaz Sharpen AI and that helped a lot. I judged the exposure with a couple of quick test shots, adjusting the flash-to-subject distance until I was able use the f/16 lens aperture. I used a 70-200mm lens at 190mm, so that tells you I was fairly close to the rodents. I estimate the shooting distance was about 25 feet.
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