Into the Light

Beautiful buck in interesting side light, Jenaya! The colors in the BG give some extra to the image. I would like to have some more room on the bottom part as well, to have the feet included.

Hi Jenaya,

Yep, a real nice buck you've captured there. Despite having quite a busy background your selective focus (and thin DoF) separates it out quite nicely. Good choice there. As you pointed out, the raised leg adds interest to the shot as well. And, certainly nailed the exposure on this one (in very tricky lighting too!) - good job on that!

For me there are three things here that work against my appreciation of the image. First is that if feels awfully tight to me - like the deer is almost "scrunched" into the frame. I don't tend to get too worked up at all about "virtual" feet missing, but in this case it feels noticeable. Second, despite doing a really good job of isolating the deer from the background, it's still awfully busy back there (and the contrasting light and dark areas are pretty powerful draws to one's eye). Third...and I doubt this would bother many others...I find the dark out-of-focus band in the lower portion of the frame distracting (I think largely because it's the only element in the frame that registers as a strong blue).

Thanks for sharing this...looking forward to your next post already!

Cheers...

Brad

Jenaya,
I like this post a lot and you choose a great title for it. The detail, even in the shadow areas of the deer are spot on. There is a lot of interest in this image including the things you have no control over like the hooves being blocked by the shadowed snow covered bank in front and the BG which is separated nicely. Excellent capture, post processing and great rack.

A good capture with great detail. I especially like the lighting.

Hi Jenaya, the light and lovely coloration give this image a very attractive overall look. Technically though Brad has covered all the nits and more than I could have thought of.

I agree that the lighting on his head and antlers is very nice. My immediate thought was that the buck feels cramped in this comp, and needs some space, so I am agreeing with Brad on this one. I would apply a selective tweak to the blue snow and de-saturate the blues a bit.