Canon 5D, Canon 500mm f4 & Canon 1.4X Extender, Gitzo 1548/Arca B1.
1/320 sec @ f6.3, ISO 400, Raw.
Levels, hue/saturation, cropped a little for web presentation.
Hi,
I've been after some images of a doe and fawn amongst the heather for a number of years now but unfortunately they've always eluded me untill now, either they proved impossible to find or the heather has just been too deep to get a decent view of the fawn.
Funnily enough, just literally ten minutes before this image was taken, I began thinking that perhaps all my effort and time spent over the years trying to locate them, with any consistency, may well have been in vain.
I'm pleased I stuck with it though as I was rewarded with a most memorable and wonderful session and managed to bag a good number of images that day.
The deer were mostly busy grazing on the heather but every now and then they briefly stopped for a spell of mutual grooming.
"All good things come to those who wait", and this beautiful image is proof of that,viewed large and the detail is stunning, very nice work Justin
Posted by Mark Hamblin on July 15, 2009 at 2:44 PM
Quite outstanding and a rare moment captured by a dedicated naturalist. Your efforts have been well rewarded here and thoroughly deserved. Excellent stuff!! Cheers, Mark
That'll do for me. So many folks don't realise what it takes to get this sort of image.
The bell heather puts it all in context too.
Wonderful stuff.
JohnR
While I agree with the general view expressed i.e. this is an excellent image, it isn't beyond a bit of minor nit picking (and I'm being very picky here).
Being objective, the composition is unbalanced due to the subject being too low in the frame. I'd have liked to have seen more space at the bottom, particularly to allow the calf's (hidden) legs more room. The comp also allows the dark tree trunks to pull the eye away from the main subject. You mention that it is cropped so maybe you have more foreground to include? For me the whole image needs to be moved up in the same frame space (or maybe even a pano crop?). Sorry to buck (no pun intended) the trend.
The other elements - the subject, the setting, the interaction, the overall quality - are spot on. Seems a shame to not make the most of this image.
Cheers,
Chris
Posted by Scott Tilley on July 16, 2009 at 2:25 AM
Can't really add to this but to say it is quite superb. I really enjoy looking at it and keep coming bak for more. I have enjoyed your deer shots in the past and this just adds another cracking image to your library. I would love to phonograph this species and can fully appreciate the field craft involved.
No problem being picky, I'm here to pick up any tips and advice .
On the uncropped version there is more space at the bottom, so no problem there. I'd probably print it uncropped anyway but just chose to go in a little tighter to make the most of the smaller sized web version.
I have many images from this session without the trees in the background and also with the deer much larger in the frame (when I had the 20D with it's crop factor attached, I was frequently swapping between the full frame body and the 20D).
For this particular sequence of images though, I wouldn't have really been able to avoid the trees in the background, even if I'd wanted too. Once the fawn started grooming the doe as shown here, I knew I only had a very short period of time, perhaps half a minute at most, to capture the behaviour. Trying to move into another position wouldn't have been practical because at worst it would have completely spooked the deer and at best, it certainly would have interupted and temporaily stopped the grooming behaviour.I couldn't really have altered my shooting height so as to minimize the background trees being visible, because, again, it would have spooked the deer and the moment would have been lost, plus the fact that even if I could have got high enough, I wouldn't have wanted to be shooting down towards the deer. It would also have meant omitting the leaves from the scene which would have just left only the two dark tree trunks, which IMO, would have looked a bit odd.
Well, that was the thinking behind it anyway
Discussion
31 replies1/320 sec @ f6.3, ISO 400, Raw.
Levels, hue/saturation, cropped a little for web presentation.
Hi,
I've been after some images of a doe and fawn amongst the heather for a number of years now but unfortunately they've always eluded me untill now, either they proved impossible to find or the heather has just been too deep to get a decent view of the fawn.
Funnily enough, just literally ten minutes before this image was taken, I began thinking that perhaps all my effort and time spent over the years trying to locate them, with any consistency, may well have been in vain.
I'm pleased I stuck with it though as I was rewarded with a most memorable and wonderful session and managed to bag a good number of images that day.
The deer were mostly busy grazing on the heather but every now and then they briefly stopped for a spell of mutual grooming.
LARGER VERSION
All comments always welcome and appreciated.
Edwin Kats
The hard work has paid off Justin, beautiful image and an excellent piece of work.
Andy...
Paul
Fantastic Justin! Well worth all the effort! Would love to see more from the session.
Cheers,
Lewis.
Robert
Phil.
Cuteness personified Justin - cracking behavioural shot in a really pretty setting - just goes to show what's great about British Wildlife
Keith.
Mark
Fran
Major.
The bell heather puts it all in context too.
Wonderful stuff.
JohnR
While I agree with the general view expressed i.e. this is an excellent image, it isn't beyond a bit of minor nit picking (and I'm being very picky here).
Being objective, the composition is unbalanced due to the subject being too low in the frame. I'd have liked to have seen more space at the bottom, particularly to allow the calf's (hidden) legs more room. The comp also allows the dark tree trunks to pull the eye away from the main subject. You mention that it is cropped so maybe you have more foreground to include? For me the whole image needs to be moved up in the same frame space (or maybe even a pano crop?). Sorry to buck (no pun intended) the trend.
The other elements - the subject, the setting, the interaction, the overall quality - are spot on. Seems a shame to not make the most of this image.
Cheers,
Chris
Scott
Brett
Simon
No problem being picky, I'm here to pick up any tips and advice
On the uncropped version there is more space at the bottom, so no problem there. I'd probably print it uncropped anyway but just chose to go in a little tighter to make the most of the smaller sized web version.
I have many images from this session without the trees in the background and also with the deer much larger in the frame (when I had the 20D with it's crop factor attached, I was frequently swapping between the full frame body and the 20D).
For this particular sequence of images though, I wouldn't have really been able to avoid the trees in the background, even if I'd wanted too. Once the fawn started grooming the doe as shown here, I knew I only had a very short period of time, perhaps half a minute at most, to capture the behaviour. Trying to move into another position wouldn't have been practical because at worst it would have completely spooked the deer and at best, it certainly would have interupted and temporaily stopped the grooming behaviour.I couldn't really have altered my shooting height so as to minimize the background trees being visible, because, again, it would have spooked the deer and the moment would have been lost, plus the fact that even if I could have got high enough, I wouldn't have wanted to be shooting down towards the deer. It would also have meant omitting the leaves from the scene which would have just left only the two dark tree trunks, which IMO, would have looked a bit odd.
Well, that was the thinking behind it anyway
David
A wonderfull image and a joy to view.