Rut Over?

Gallery: WildlifePosted February 9, 2014101 views5 comments

This image was from a visit to my local nature area the other day. I'd been thinking the rut was over, or nearly so, but these 2 guys begged to differ. Judging by the amount of disturbed ground, they had been at this for a while. During the time I saw them, they did lots of pushing and shoving but nothing really violent. After a while, the darker one just turned and walked away followed by the other one a few minutes later. Hard to say if there was a victor in this. I didn't dare move in any closer, so this is the best I could do with a fairly good crop. Not perfect, but you get an idea of what is going on here. Other than the crop, minimal tweaking in Lightroom. I warmed it up just a bit, reduced the exposure by a little, added contrast, and sharpened. That's it. I also cloned out a few distracting twigs in the area of their heads and antlers. Comments and critiques are welcomed and appreciated.

Tech Info

Canon EOS 60D with EF 70-200mm f/4l at 200mm
1/250th at f/4.0 and ISO 2000
Tripod
Lightroom 5

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Ronald Murphy on February 10, 2014 at 9:32 AM

I've been enjoying several of your photos like this one recently. But generally, I would warm up the color temp, increase the exposure and add some contrast. I tried it on a screen capture of one of them and I think it significantly improved.

Registered on March 13, 2012, 279 Posts, 975 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on February 10, 2014 at 1:30 PM

Thanks for your input on this one Ron. I know exactly where you're coming from with your comments as I go through that myself on lots of my images. This was early morning on a cloudy day threatening rain. Not a lot of light and a high ISO needed to get shutter speed. The warmth is something I often add to. But the image is close to correct. We're in a drought here and the vegetation looks all browned out like it does in late summer, just before the winter rains start. Which hasn't happened this year. So my quandary often is: Do I post it as close to what was actually there or do I improve it to make it visually more appealing to view? Sometimes it's a tough call for me. I appreciate your taking the time to comment and glad you enjoy these deer photos.

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

Comment posted by Matthew Studebaker on February 10, 2014 at 10:00 PM

great moment captured. amazing sight. too bad the light and background didn't have a little more magic.

Registered on December 21, 2013, 11 Posts, 82 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on February 11, 2014 at 12:01 AM

Great action Peter, too bad the light was not your friend this morning. Still a pleasing photo though and the deer are quite sharp. Might be a fun photo to experiment with in photoshop to create a photo art version perhaps?

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on February 11, 2014 at 12:53 AM

Nice wildlife experience to witness. I would probably crop in quite a bit more to put more emphasis on the deer and alleviate the busyness (distracting foilage and branches) of the scene.

Registered on May 18, 2004, 124 Posts, 2503 Comments