Monster Muley

Gallery: WildlifePosted March 10, 2014160 views6 comments

Hi Everyone! This is a picture I took last fall while my sister and dad and I were out on a drive near our new home. We have mule deer everywhere around here, but this guy sure caught my eye! He's one of the nicest bucks I've ever seen, but he didn't cooperate too much for me to get the pictures I wanted. This was my favourite one because I like how he is looking into the field to make sure it's safe before he continues on his way.

I hope you like it!

Nikon D300
Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4 IF-ED with TC-14EII teleconverter
ISO 640
1/500sec @ f/5.6
on beanbag from truck window

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Dad's notes:

Converted from RAW using Phase One Capture One Pro 7
Desaturated, corrected contrast and tone in PS5 along with tweaks in Nik Color Efex Pro 4 and Viveza 2
Cropped to pano to eliminate strong green band of vegetation at top as well as wind turbines
Added small amount of canvas on right to give a little more space behind buck

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Ralph Kerr on March 10, 2014 at 6:25 AM

A very handsome buck, Josiah. Congratulations on finding him to photograph at all. My only comment is that I would prefer more space to the right of the buck. You have plenty of space for him to look into so more space behind would add to this image IMO.

Registered on January 30, 2007, 369 Posts, 852 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on March 10, 2014 at 10:27 AM

Josiah, this is one of the biggest antlered bucks anyone will ever see! What a bruiser! This feels a little like a big crop and I am not sure you could make it much bigger without it looking soft. I would love to see more pictures of this guy in about September when he will be really really prime!

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

Comment posted by Thomas Haney on March 10, 2014 at 12:07 PM

Beautiful shot, I love the pano format and the quality of the light.

Registered on April 7, 2013, 138 Posts, 537 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Cloran on March 10, 2014 at 12:46 PM

I like the pano format, but agree that it would be stronger for me with a little more room on the right side to move him into the scene. This is far and away the most impressive mulie buck I have even seen. Hopefully you'll have the opportunity to capture more images of him again.

Registered on April 6, 2004, 119 Posts, 1989 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on March 11, 2014 at 11:15 AM

Geez, what a monster. Great find.

I see the point others are making about adding some space on the right. I could see some taken off the bottom though, just to get the subject into the lower right third and out of the center. Still, the way it's presented does offer some nice symmetry.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Josiah Launstein on March 11, 2014 at 11:13 PM

Thank you everyone for the comments! I know I put him pretty close to the edge but I was wanting to have lots of space in front of him but didn't mean to make him quite that close!

I sure hope I will see this guy again in the fall and get even better pictures of him!

Registered on January 26, 2013, 52 Posts, 126 Comments