Guarding His Lady

Gallery: WildlifePosted November 4, 201579 views7 comments

This guy was running himself ragged trying to keep his harem intact. Here he is looking over his shoulder at a rival buck. Taken in Yellowstone's Lamar Valley. Processed using Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC 2014. Comments and critiques welcome.

Canon 7D Mark II
Canon 200-400 f4 L IS
f7.1
1/1000s
Focal Length 560mm (Teleconverter Engaged)
ISO 320

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by John Launstein on November 4, 2015 at 11:26 PM

Great look at this pair, Jerry! I like the contrast throughout and the overall comp, set off perfectly by the mirrored poses. Nice one!

Registered on April 5, 2011, 223 Posts, 1193 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on November 5, 2015 at 7:03 AM

Jerry,
Marvelous image, have you considered cropping to eliminate the tree?

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on November 5, 2015 at 7:19 AM

Ken, I went back and forth on the tree. Decided to leave it in, as cropping it out made it a little tight and centered.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on November 5, 2015 at 9:33 PM

Nice light and great pose with both looking back over the shoulder. Also they pop nicely from the background.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Stephen Kaluski on November 6, 2015 at 6:25 AM

Hi Jerry, perhaps not the most flattering POV of this subject, but love the head turn. Light looks harsh, but handled well. Good call to retain the tree, adds context and it would look too sterile without it, another vote to leave it in.

TFS
Steve

Registered on March 25, 2007, 189 Posts, 1064 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on November 6, 2015 at 4:02 PM

Beautiful pair with matching over the shoulder looks, I like it a lot Jerry. My initial reaction was maybe the tree should be cropped out but after taking it out (by placing paper over the screen) I decided I like it better with the tree in, it adds balance to the composition. Nicely done Jerry devil

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on November 10, 2015 at 8:26 AM

Hi Jerry,

Nicely done. Just classic head-turns and some really nice light. I also like how the two subjects are on a ridge and with no immediate background. Two further thoughts:

1. I like that you kept the tree in - as others have pointed out it provides nice balance to the frame. I do wonder if toning the brightness of the tree down a little (i.e., selectively reducing the exposure on it) might be helpful? At present I find it to be a BIT of an eye-puller (tho', as mentioned above, I DO think it's good that you kept it in for balance).

2. Just a bit of a "what if" comment: I'm wondering if opening up your aperture just a bit might have softened the background a tad more (thus making the subjects pop that little bit extra). Wild cards affecting this (and things I don't know) include if this is a crop or not (that would possibly impact on how much DoF you needed to keep both subjects in focus) and whether or not this lens needs to be stopped down much from wide open (f5.6 with TC engaged) to attain maximum sharpness...

Cheers...

Brad

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