Ready for Run

Jack - I like the alert pose and the big rack. As for what's "wrong" with the image, it appears that the White Balance (WB) is off and there is a lot of "color noise" from the high ISO, which is exacerbated by the 50% crop. I'd try running noise reduction with an emphasis on reducing color noise and playing with the white balance of the RAW image.

- Luke

Jack, Luke mioght be correct....but I was thinking it is more of a saturation/hue issue. I seem to get these rewds in processing when the hue and/or saturation is not accurate. If it were mine, I would do a layer adjustment for sat/hue and you should be able to get control of those reds and yellows a bit better.

Thanks guys! I will try both suggestions. This is too good a shot to let die.

What a fabulous pose Jack! Certainly an image that deserves another try in post-processing as there is indeed something odd about this. I agree that the high ISO and the large crop have not helped in that respect and will also limit the possibilities in post-processing. You have received some good suggestions to try to improve this. On top of that I would like to add that the blacks in the BG look blocked (reaches zero values) and the would suggest toning down the bright FG grass.

Terrific pose indeed Jack! The others have given some very helpfull suggestions, I'd love to see a reworked version of this!

I have reworked this picture, but I am still not sure that the problen is solved. Inexperiance shows up in a picture with problems! Please let me know what you think. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

Jack

What a great pose. I like how he is looking at the camera. I find the background distracting due to the purple glow on the branches, so I agree with the sat/hue suggestion, but I like the photo regardless.

Laura Stafford

I like the alert posture with lifted foreleg and outstretched tail. I find the purple of the dead branches to be somewhat distracting and unnatural. Remedy might be in a white balance adjustment or a selective desaturating of that hue.

Post Script...I made my comment without looking at other reactions, so missed the repost, which I think is a significant improvement.

The pose is wonderful, and the repost looks much more natural (even though there may be a little yellow cast)... Somehow the deer looks a bit unsharp, maybe the time wasn't short enough (a 50% area crop with a 400mm on a 1.6x sensor means a 35mm equivalent of about 900mm, so 1/320 may be a bit long), or maybe is the web compression...

The pose of the buck is wonderful. Colors on the repost are much much better.