Category

Pets & Domesticated Animals

Location

Free Range Pig Farm, West Ashling, Sussex

Gear

Fuji XT3, Laowa 9mm f/2.8 Zero-D Lens

Description

The shot was opportunistic and made during an afternoon stroll. I have watched these pigs many times before and always find them fascinatingly disgusting! On this occasion I noticed they were enjoying some mud very close to the boundary fence. Despite the appearance of this shot, 'Abigail's' nose was constantly moving and I needed a fast-ish shutter speed and a wide depth of field to keep her whole head in focus. Thankfully the autumn sunlight was bright enough to achieve this using just natural light - after quite a bit of trial and error I settled for 125th sec at f16, manual focusing just beyond her nose. I gradually worked my way closer, leaning over the fence and using the tilting back screen of my camera to make shots at or near ground level. This shot was made only a few inches from Abilgail's snout, but she seemed totally unperturbed, just keeping one beedy eye on me. My camera somehow survived unscathed!

Photographer

Matthew Thomas

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