In the snow +repost

I would like it as an ESS shot, since there is no way, except from your description, to know the deer died from a shot. I like the idea of the image better than the image itself. It seems to me that some more somber lighting would be effective, perhaps a grad overlay, to increase the tonal range. Taken by itself, the image is well composed, clear in detail, with the whites well rendered and free of the usual blue shadows common to snow pictures.

Well done, just needs a bump to take it to the top.

This is would be equally fine in M&N or ESS Rob. It's certainly not obvious to me that the skull was placed. Some very nice details and textures in the larger version. For me the skull gets a bit lost in those reeds, perhaps a slightly clearer bit of space would work better for me.

Thanks for the input on M&N vs ESS.

Phil, is the repost along the lines of what you were thinking? I'm not that familiar with grad overlays, but I attempted one, which did soften the harsh look.

Kah Kit, I agree the skull does get somewhat lost in the reeds. Luckily, I did have time to try a few different settings, and I'll work one up in the near future that the skull is more visible. I also took the skull out a couple times earlier in the week, trying to recreate an image along the lines of the March deer skull image that is in my gallery.

I agree with KK. This is nice, just not as strong as the previous shot.