Just Watching

Gallery: WildlifePosted November 3, 201470 views2 comments

Out on the coolest morning of the fall so far. I stopped at a spot to watch one deer and ended up staying there over a half hour watching deer come and go. Must have been 2 dozen all together. Lots of activity relative to the rut going on. This smaller buck could only watch as the bigger, older bucks took charge. I liked the light colored deer against the dark BG and what looks like an envious gaze by this guy. I cropped this by about a third to get the buck off center and eliminate a bright area and then added some warmth, contrast, and clarity while darkening the highlights and whites and opening up the shadows and the blacks. I wish he had been facing me rather than the other way around, but this was his choice. Your comments and critiques are welcome.

Tech Info

Canon EOS 60D with EF 70-200mm f/4 at 200mm
1/1250 at f/4 and ISO 1000
tripod
Lightroom 5

Comments

2 comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on November 4, 2014 at 12:31 PM

An interesting image Peter. The exposure looks OK, but IMHO this should be a vertical composition instead of a horizontal. I think there is just not enough around the deer to support the horizontal comp. Of course, I do not know what the full image looks like. For me the tail being slightly OOF is a distraction, not much but some. Had to be rewarding to be able to watch all of the deer activity. Thanks for sharing.

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

Comment posted by Brad Hill on November 5, 2014 at 8:57 AM

Hi Peter,

My very first thought upon looking at this image was similar to John's - I don't really see why a pano crop here strengthens the image. Did that line along the top of those plants influence your crop choice? The subject itself would lend itself to a vertical presentation, but without knowing what else is around the area you've cropped out it's hard for me to say that a vertical would have been the way to go. But to me the current crop almost "fights with" the subject and the subject almost feels "squeezed" into the frame.

Cheers...

Brad

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