Not Yet

Gallery: WildlifePosted August 27, 201476 views3 comments

This young buck is waiting for his first rut but the velvet on the antlers indicates it not yet time. My first post in months as I've been "out of action" so to speak. I'm hoping to be a more regular contributor again. I liked the light the guy stepped into which illuminated his head rather well. The BG is chaos and the light is strong but with some light tweeks to contrast, shadows and highlights, I think it came out pretty well. I also cropped off about 30% to eliminate a very bright FG and to get the deer out of dead center. Your comments and critiques are welcome and very much appreciated.

Tech Info

Canon EOS 60D with EF 70-200mm f/4 at 163mm
1/1000th at f/4 and ISO 500
tripod
Lightroom 5

Comments

3 comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on August 27, 2014 at 11:04 PM

Great to see you posting again Peter! Looks like you had some strong light to contend with, which you have handled well IMHO. I am not sure, but to me it looks like the deer's antlers are twisted a bit. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on August 28, 2014 at 12:37 AM

You're pretty observant, John. The antlers are a bit odd. Also, there appears to be some additional growth near the skull. Not sure exactly what that might be. Last year we had a deer that had an antler that went out sideways and to the rear. I'll be taking a close look thru the fall. If it is the same deer then it's older than a yearling or maybe the other deer was this one's dad. Some detective work makes for an interesting sub-activity.

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

Comment posted by Brad Hill on August 29, 2014 at 5:42 PM

Hi Peter,

Nice to see you posting again - welcome back!

Two comments on this one: First, you say "I liked the light the guy stepped into which illuminated his head rather well". I'm not sure the image conveys that the head is entering a lighter zone that well. I'm wondering if a global reduction in exposure and a bump in contrast (again globally) might show this "entering the light" aspect of the image better? Second, given the "busy-ness" of the background I'm wondering if a somewhat tighter framing of the subject in the field (zooming that lens out to 200mm or so) would have simplified and "cleaned" up the composition somewhat (helping the viewer to really notice how the deer is stepping into the light).

Cheers...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments