Perhaps the most compelling faces I've photographed in the animal kingdom are the snub-nosed monkeys from China. Blue is an unusual color in animals, especially mammals, and I was totally captivated by these amazing and rare primates. They are wild, but they're drawn to food left out for them in the Tacheng National Park. Many of the females had babies, and it was a thrill to capture one nursing. They will come surprisingly close even though they are wild animals, so I could use my 100-400mm Canon zoom for frame-filling shots. The troop of monkeys was in a gorge surrounded by high mountains, and this was an advantage because the lighting was diffused for much of the day. Direct sunlight at midday made good photography impossible. My settings for this were 1/500, f/7.1, 2500 ISO. The focal length used for this shot was 280mm. My photo tour to China at the end of this year includes a visit to these monkeys. I can't wait to go back to take more pictures of these beautiful primates.
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