In the middle 80's Audubon Magazine ran an article that highlighted blue in nature. I never forgot it. Besides the sky and large bodies of water, blue is relatively rare in nature. I've been photographing blue animals ever since. This is a wild baby snub-nosed monkey I photographed during winter in China. Blue is very unusual in mammals, and these monkeys make amazing portraits with their intensely blue faces. I used a Canon 100-500mm zoom in conjunction with a 1.4 teleconverter for a tight composition, and the settings were 1/500, f/8, and 1000 ISO. In this national park, rangers put bananas out for the monkeys, and they come down from the mountains to feed. That's how we get close enough to take beautiful shots of them. My next photo tour to China that includes these monkeys is January, 2026.
2 Comments
Mar 23, 2025, 5:23:35 PM
Jim - That's a really good question, Jim. To be honest, I have no idea. Another nearby monkey wouldn't account for that kind of color. I really should have eliminated that blue/purple color on the branch, but I didn't think of it. Jim
Mar 22, 2025, 6:05:53 PM
Jim Craighead - I like your photo of the blue faced monkey. But why is the highlight on its head blue and the top highlight on the limb blue also?