Phantom of the Oaks

Gallery: WildlifePosted December 19, 2011190 views3 comments

A pretty foggy morning today as I walked the local nature area. Spotted this buck first as just a blob in the fog. Closer inspection revealed he was just bedded down and chewing on his last meal. Probably thankful that the rut is done and he can resusme a normal lifestyle. A moody image with a pale palette of colors. My 2 nits are that I couldn't get both ears in view and doesn't quite fit the rule of thirds as I couldn't move him further left by cropping as that would have made the tree come into the frame midway up and I wanted to keep it rooted in the ground so to speak. Comments and critiques welcomed.

Techs

Canon EOS 60D with 70-200mm f/4.0 at 200mm
1/400th at f/4.5 and ISO 800
tripod

Comments

3 comments

Comment posted by John Launstein on December 20, 2011 at 1:01 AM

Hi Peter! I quite like this. I love the mood and colours, but it's his quiet look that matches all the other qualities so nicely that makes this such a pleasing, tranquil image. I like your composition and your choices on what you have included in the image.

I do find myself wondering how this would look from a lower camera angle, but seeing the branches in front of the buck I assume this might not have been possible, or there might have been other considerations not visible to the viewer.

All in all, I like it!

Registered on April 5, 2011, 223 Posts, 1193 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on December 20, 2011 at 11:31 AM

Thanks for your feedback John I probably could have done a lower pov as there really wasn't much for veg. that would have gotten in the way unless I got real low. I was on a tripod so was a bit lazy in that regard. As most of the deer I'm seeing now are pretty sedentary I may do a few excursions as handheld and see if I get some diffenrent perspectives. Thanks for the suggestion.

Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on December 21, 2011 at 8:48 AM

I like the composition very much, with the diagonal tree adding nice dynamic tension. This may be underexposed, however, as the feeling is more of darkness than foggy. You might try adding brightness in post processing.

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments