Mink, M, Foot, toe pads, MD, PG County, Bowie

The foot of the American Mink: Neovison vison. A lovely male freshly killed where a stream crosses the road in the progenitor of all suburbs: Bowie, Maryland. All sorts of things exist in these seeming wastelands. The head was crushed but the paws were beautiful...if you look closely the pads have their own fingerprints and I could feel the kinship with the babies I had long ago - it was a little unsettling to work on the pictures. Photos by Brooke Alexander. Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200. USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.