On Target
by Peter Cross
The alpha male here is a big brute. Nice rack (but not that pretty) and a really large body. Almost moose like. He's zeroed in on the FG doe and she is being quite calm about the whole thing although she looks a bit frantic here. This is what I got: Not exactly what I wanted as these 2 were not taking posing cues. Also, not enough DOF at this time of day to get her in better focus and I truthfully really didn't have time to change the setting. So this is what I got. Nevertheless, I think it still relays a story about the rut that these deer go through every year. This is an uncropped image but I did make a few adjustments. I added some warmth thru the WB, added .25 stop of exposure, and a little contrast and clarity. I'd appreciate your comments and critiques on this photo.
Tech Info
Canon EOS 60D with EF 70-200mm f/4 at 200mm
1/400 at f/4 and ISO 1000
tripod
Lightroom 5
Comments
2 commentsAs posted the image does tell a story. Personally I'd like to see a little more room on the bottom - the male's hooves are almost clipped and there would have been no harm to losing a little of the room at the top of the frame. I don't know about stopping down more...if the female was in better focus then it may have interfered more with eye flow - right now there's no doubt about what the main subject is - both by framing and by selective focus. Sharpen up the female more and it could be more visually confusion. And, it's looking to me like you didn't have the light to do so anyway...you'd need to stop down to f8 to significantly change the DoF and then you'd either be up to ISO 4000 (at the same shutter speed) or down to 1/200 of a second at ISO 2000 (and risking getting an image with motion blur). So overall - besides framing the shot a little differently - not sure what you could have done that differently...(I see more scene problems here than photographer-decision problems!).
Cheers...
Brad